


Impossible

by Emmagrace12



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Adventures, Ester and the Doctor have histroy, F/M, Female Time Lord, Fluff, Fob watch, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-23 02:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 122,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11393154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmagrace12/pseuds/Emmagrace12
Summary: "500 years or so of life, and all of it gone.  No memory of my past life what so ever.  No Gallifrey, no TARDIS, no Time War, and worst of all, no Doctor. All that remained was a young and naïve human girl, with the name of Ester."The Teacher was known as the Doctor's constant companion, but she was always so much more than that. She'd been with him since the beginning and was his best friend. But when the Time War erupts and her parents want to protect their daughter, she's ripped away from the Doctor and sent to Earth to live out her life while the war continued.But Ester knows nothing of this, and her greatest problem isn't the Time War, but trying to figure out the visions of screams and destruction that haunt her nights.  And who is the mysterious man that makes many appearances in her dreams?





	1. Prologe

Pain. White hot, blinding pain. I could feel it. Breathe it. Taste it. It was erasing me. Re-writing me. Leaving few details behind in the same body. Almost like writing a third or fourth draft of an essay, the latest one being drastically different from the first.

I knew I would forget it all for an unknown period of time. The Time War, my home, my TARDIS... Him... All of it, all my memories, everything I am-was, flashed through my mind. All 500 years or so, painfully going away.


	2. Rose and Ester

"Rose!" I called, knocking on her door before taking a bite of the toast I was holding.

"Yeah?" She called from behind the closed door.

"You need a ride? I'm about to leave for the school." I responded, having enough of talking through the closed door. "Can I come in?"

"Sure, it's unlocked." She stated before opening the door. "Ooh, thanks!" She laughed, plucking the toast out of my hand and taking a large bite out of it.

"Hey! That was mine!" I exclaimed, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Yeah? Well now it's mine, so there." She laughed through a mouthful of food.

I scrunched my nose up in disgust. "You know, you really shouldn't talk with your mouth full." She scoffed in response. "Now, about that ride..."

"Nah, Micky and me are taking the train-"

"Mickey and  _I_." I corrected.

"You sound too much like a teacher.". Rose groaned.

"Well, that's a good thing considering I'm training to be one!" I laughed.

"I don't know how you stand that; all those runny nose kids. Right little terrors, all of 'em."

"It's a great job, and I love it! The kids are all  _fantastic_ and I seriously don't see myself doing anything else." I said, defending my students.

"Still..." Rose said.

"Whatever, think what you will, but I will be going to work now." I said, pulling my canvas tote bag over my shoulder and heading to the kitchen to say bye to Mum. I left our three bedroom, two bathroom flat and headed to the school where I was a Teacher's Assistant.

***

I loved my job; sure I was only the assistant teacher and spent a good part of my time correcting papers done by the kids; but I loved it all the same. Jackie and Rose Tyler (my adopted family) thought I was insane, but something about teaching made me feel at peace, like it was apart of my life before I lost my memories.

When I was 15 years old, my mother, father and I got in a car crash, taking both of their lives and leaving me without any memories what so ever. I was taken in by Jackie Tyler and her ten year old daughter Rose. They were a lovely family and I've been with them for the last eight years.

The hours flew by, and soon, the final bell rang and I was off for home.

"Mum!" I called when I unlocked the door to our flat. "I'm home!" I walked into the living room to see her talking on the phone.

"Really? He said that? Oh, tell me all about it later, Ester just got in. Did you hear she's teaching!" She said as enthusiastically as ever.

"I'll fix some tea." I said with a smile before going off into the kitchen. I put some water in a kettle and put it on the stove top. As I waited for Mum to get off the phone, I took out my stack of papers from my bag and started checking them, marking answers with my dark blue pen.

Mum soon was off the phone, and joined me in the kitchen. "How was school?" She asked, pouring two cups of tea, one for me and one for her.

"Thank you." I said, accepting the warm cup from her. "It was fine, the kids just started studying poetry." I said before taking a sip from the cup. "Is Rose working a double shift?"

"Yeah, said she needed the extra pay. With Christmas coming up and all, I'm sure she'll need the extra cash." Mum said, getting up and excusing herself to the bathroom

I clicked on the TV and switched it to the BBC News. It was the same as always, cat stuck in a tree, celebrities seen without make up, the American economy going downhill fast... Until, I saw the unexpected.

"Hendrix Department store blown up; cause unknown."

Hendrix Department store. Rose's job. Rose was there. Rose.

"MUM!"

***

"The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire." Said the TV. Rose was home, sitting next to me on the couch. We were both staring intensely at the screen. I was running my finger over the face of the watch-like-locket that I always kept around my neck, the only remaining item from my previous life, before I lost my memories.

"I know. It's on the telly. It's everywhere. She's lucky to be alive. Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think I was her daughter. Oh, and here's himself." Mum said, talking into the phone as Micky Smith walked into the house.

"I've been phoning your mobile. You could've been dead. It's on the news and everything. I can't believe that your shop went up!" Micky exclaimed.

"Well hello to you too, Mickey." I said with a small smile, trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere in the room.

"Hey Ester, looking great as usual." Mickey said offhandedly.

"I'm all right, honestly, I'm fine! Don't make a fuss." Rose sighed, leaning back on the couch.

"Oi! I have the right to fuss! I'm your big sister, it written in the job description, 'Fuss over your little sister'!" I huffed, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Well, what happened?" Mickey asked, voicing my thoughts.

"I don't know!" Rose exclaimed

"What was it though? What caused it?" Mickey asked again.

"I wasn't in the shop. I was outside. I didn't see anything." Rose explained.

"It's Debbie on the end. She knows a man on the Mirror. Five hundred quid for an interview." Mum said to Rose, covering her end of the phone.

"Oh that's brilliant! Give it here." Rose said, faking enthusiasm. She got off the couch, grabbed the phone from Mum and hit the red "END" button.

"Well, you've got to find some way of making money. Your job's kaput and I'm not bailing you out." Mum tsked.

"We'll be fine, we've still got my pay check." I reassured them. The telephone rang again, and Mum picked it up.

"Bev! She's alive. I've told her, sue for compensation. She was within seconds of death." Mum exclaimed. I smiled and rolled my eyes. I zoned out, and the sounds of lasers firing and people screaming and dying filled my thoughts. So much death... So many children... I felt a tear run down my face, and Rose put a hand on my shoulder.

"You alright?" She asked.

"Yeah... Just... Just a head ache..." I lied, whipping the lone tear off my cheek.

"No you're not, it was one of those vision thingys, yeah?" Rose said quiet enough so Mum wouldn't hear.

"Hey where did Mickey go?" I asked, a fake smile on my face, trying to change the subject.

"He left, stop that! Did you have another vision?" She asked seriously.

I sighed. After the accident, I started getting little vision type things. They were all impossible things; different adventures, different planets, aliens, historical events with me apart of them, a blue box that could go anywhere it wanted, happy things, but also terrifying things. Dark things. Death and sadness. All of these things could have never happened, yet, they all seem so real. Mum took me to a doctor not long after she found out about them, they gave me some medication that didn't work, but I acted like it did and continued to take it. I was too scared of what would happen to me if I told them the visions were still occurring, too scared to lose my new family. Rose was the only person who knew that I was still having them.

"Ester?" Rose said, egging me on so I would tell her. I simply looked at my folded hands, sitting in my lap, and nodded. Rose closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "I think it would be good if you went to bed; some sleep might help."

"Yeah." I nodded with a small smile that I know didn't reach my eyes. "I think I might just do that." I got up off the couch, Rose stood up as well. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into a hug that she greatly returned. "I'm so glad you're safe." I said, hugging her tight. "I love you Rose, you're seriously the best little sis anyone could ask for."

"I love you too Es." Rose said, using her nickname for me. "Now go get some sleep." She ordered, pulled away from the hug.

"Sure thing Boss." I laughed, giving Rose a big grin. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

***

That night my dreams were filled with more adventures of me, the Doctor, who flew the blue box, and a girl named Sarah-Jane. There was always a different version of myself and the Doctor; we looked different, but I could tell we were still the same people. The two of us would travel with different people, some stuck around longer than others, but all held special places in my heart, and the heart of the Doctor. We even had a robotic dog traveling with us once.

When I woke up, I did as I always do, and wrote down what my dream was. I kept a small black leather journal under my pillow where I would write these dreams. I jokingly called it " _Impossible Things",_ and it was filled with just that, impossible things.

After I finished writing my dream down, I put the journal back under my pillow and went to join Mum and Rose in the kitchen. It was a Saturday, so I didn't have to worry about getting out of the door at a certain time.

"There's Finch's. You could try them. They've always got jobs." I heard Mum say as I walked down the hall.

"Oh, great. The butchers." Rose said sarcastically.

"Well, it might do you good. That shop was giving you airs and graces. And I'm not joking about compensation. You've had genuine shock and trauma. Arianna got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek! I know she is Greek, but that's not the point. It was a valid claim." Mum said, going off on a tangent. "Oh, good morning sweetheart, sleep well?" She asked when I walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, I slept fine." I said, leaving out my dream. I sat down and got some tea and a slice of toast and began eating.   
Something rattled at the door, grabbing my attention.

"Mum, you're such a liar. I told you to nail that cat flap down. We're going to get strays." Rose groaned, getting up to look at the cat flap.

"I'll go get a hammer and some nails." I volunteered, getting up and looking under the sink.

"I did it weeks back!" Mum defended, going to her room. I found the hammer and nails and went next to Rose on the floor.

"No, you thought about it." Rose called, inspecting the cat flap. There were nails on the ground from when the cat flap was once nailed down. The flap moved again, causing me to flinch. Rose opened the cat flap to meet the eyes of a man with short hair and a leather jacket.

"Uhm..." I said, unsure of the situation.

Rose stood up, and I followed suit. Rose opened the door, and the strange man behind to speak to us.

"What're you doing here?" He asked in a Northern accent.

"I live here." She said, as if she's seen this man before.

"Well, what do you do that for?" He asked. I stayed quiet, this man sure did like to ask questions...

"Because I do. I'm only at home because someone blew up my job." Rose said.

"I must have got the wrong signal." The man said before taking out a tube thing with a blue light on the end of it. "You're not plastic, are you?" He said before scanning Rose. It reminded me of a sonic screwdriver, one of the tools me and the Doctor would use in my dreams, although the ones we had were red and orange. The odd man seemed to notice me then, and looked into my eyes. His eyes were too old for his body... They had seen too many things... Like the Doctor's... His eyes showed his shock when he saw me. I must have looked like someone he had known. He proceeded to scan me too. "No, bonehead. Both of you. Bye, then." He said quickly.

"You. Inside. Right now." Rose ordered, pulling the man into the flat.

"Who is it?" Mum asked from her bedroom. I continued looking at the man, wondering why he reminded me so much of the Doctor, of the battles I've seen in my head. I concluded that I must not have fully snapped out of my last set of visions and they were just bleeding into my normal thoughts. They must have been warping what I was actually seeing.

"It's about last night. He's part of the inquiry. Give us ten minutes." Rose explained, leading the man towards Mum's room.

"She deserves compensation." Mum said to the man, who was standing in her doorway.

"Oh, we're talking millions." He explained.

"I'm in my dressing gown." Mum said lightly.

"Yes, you are." He replied

"There's a strange man in my bedroom." She continued

"Yes, there is." He said, oblivious to what Mum was going at.

"Well, anything could happen." Mum said suggestively.

"No." He deadpanned, causing me to snort and hold back a laugh.

"Don't mind the mess. Do you want a coffee?" Rose asked, once we were in the living room again.

"Might as well, thanks. Just milk." He said.

"We should go to the police. Seriously. Both of us." Rose said from the kitchen.

"It wouldn't hurt." I agreed.

The man looked at me. "I never caught your name." He said with a curious look on his face.

"Ester, Ester Tyler. I'm her adopted sister." I said, reaching my hand out.

"Nice to meet you Ester Tyler." The man said, taking my hand and shaking it. When our hands touched, my mind was over run with visions of the Doctor and I. This man was so similar to the Doctor... But it couldn't... "I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?" I asked after our hands dropped.

"Just the Doctor." He said before picking up a copy of Heat off the coffee table. "That won't last, he's gay and she's an alien." He said, putting it back down. I just watched him in shock. This is the man from my visions. It couldn't just be a coincidence. There were too many similarities between the two.

"I'm not blaming you, even if it was just some sort of joke that went wrong." Rose said from the kitchen, snapping me out of my thoughts.

The Doctor picked up a paperback book off of the bookshelf and quickly flipped through it. "Hmm. Sad ending." He said, putting the book back down.

"They said on the news they'd found a body." Rose said.

I reached up to my necklace and traced my fingers over the circular patterns engraved in the watch-like pendant. "It's him.". It whispered. "You've found him."

I was used to the watch saying things, it seemed to had started with the visions. I had tried to get rid of the watch in the early days, but it always seemed to come back. Eventually, I grew to accept it and it became more of a safety blanket than anything else.

"Did you say anything?" The Doctor asked, meeting my eyes.

"No, not at all." I said with a strait face.

"Rose Tyler. Ester Tyler." He said before looking in a mirror. The Doctor acted like this was the first time he's ever seen himself. "Ah, could've been worse. Look at the ears." He said, messing with his large ears, causing me to giggle a bit.

"All the same, he was nice. Nice bloke." Rose said, totally unaware that all that she was saying was falling on death ears.

The Doctor picked up a pack of cards and started trying to shuffle them. "Luck be a lady." He said as he began.

"Anyway, if we are going to go to the police, I want to know what I'm saying." Rose said, starling the Doctor, causing the cards in the deck to go flying. I tried my best to keep I my laughter, but failed.

"I want you to explain everything." Rose said.

"Maybe not." He said before the cat flap rattled again. "What's that, then? You got a cat?"

"No." Rose and I answered together.

"You need help Rose?" I asked, getting up from my seat, going into the kitchen to help her carry the drinks.

"Sure, Ester." She said, handing me a mug. "We did have, but now they're just strays. They come in off the estate." She explained to the Doctor. We walked into the living room to find the Doctor had the maniquen's arm on his throat, as if it were chocking him. "I told Mickey to chuck that out. You're all the same. Give a man a plastic hand. Anyway, I don't even know your name. Doctor, what was it?" Rose asked, figuring he was just fooling around.

The Doctor managed to throw the arm off of his throat, and it goes flying. The arm stops in mid air and goes for my face. I didn't have time to duck, and it attached itself onto my face. My screams were muffled by the plastic hand as I tried to pull it off of my face.

"You get that off of her right now!" Rose yelled at the Doctor, who began pulling at the arm. When he pulled at the arm, he pulled me down on top of him, causing us to go through the coffee table. The Doctor finally got it off my face and I could breath correctly again. The Doctor jabed his sonic screwdriver into the palm of the arm, and the fingers stopped flexing.

"It's all right, I've stopped it. There you go, you see? Armless." He laughed, handing me the arm.

"Do you think?" Rose said with fake awe, right before I hit him with the arm.

"Ow!"

"Not so 'armless' now, huh?" I said. The Doctor headed for the stairs.

"Hold on a minute. You can't just go swanning off." Rose called, the two of us following him.

"Yes I can." He countered. "Here I am. This is me, swanning off. See you." He waved, turning his back to us.

"But that arm was moving." I said. "It tried to kill me."

"Ten out of ten for observation." He said.

"You can't just walk away. That's not fair. You've got to tell us what's going on." Rose said, following him down some stairs.

"No, I don't." He said going outside our flat building.

"All right, then. I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone. You said, if I did that, I'd get people killed. So, your choice. Tell us, or I'll start talking." Rose threatened.

"Is that supposed to sound tough?" The Doctor asked, a grin playing on his lips.

"Sort of." Rose said.

"Doesn't work." He reassured.

"Sure it dose." I started. "Because you don't want to be the cause of anyone elses death. Because I can see in your eyes that you have already lost so many. And you blame yourself." I said boldly, looking deep in his eyes.

"Who are you?" He asked in a dark tone.

"Told you, Ester Tyler." I said.

"Yes, but  _who_  are you? You can't be human." He said.

"Of course she is!" Rose exclaimed

"Well I am, my parents were, supposedly." I said.

"Supposedly?"

"They're dead, I lost all of my memories when we got in a car accident. I don't remember them." I said, my head starting to hurt with all of the different visions coming to my mind. I took in a sharp breath.

"Who are you?" Rose said, trying to change the topic when she sensed my discomfort.

"Told you. The Doctor."

"Yeah, but Doctor what?" Rose asked, not giving up on her pestering.

"Just the Doctor."

"The Doctor." Rose said in a mocking tone.

"Hello!" He said, waving to us.

"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" Rose asked.

"Sort of." He said.

I scoffed. "That would be like me calling myself 'The Teacher' because I teach."

"The Teacher? I had a friend with that name..." He said, the dark sadness returning to his eyes.

"Come on, then. You can tell us. We've seen enough. Are you the police?"

"No, I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home." He said, the sad look still in his eyes.

"But what have I done wrong? How comes those plastic things keep coming after me and Ester?" Rose asked

"Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you. You were just an accident. You got in the way, that's all." He said, in a supposedly reassuring tone.

"It tried to kill my sister." Rose argued.

"It was after me, not her. Last night, in the shop, I was there, you blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down. The only reason it fixed on her is 'cos she's met me."

"But this is the first time I've ever seen you in my life." I said, very confused.

"You're just a whole bundle of unanswerable questions, aren't you?" He asked.

"So what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you." Rose asked.

"Sort of, yeah." He said.

"You're full of it." I said.

"Sort of, yeah." He said, sharing a smile with me. The way his eyes lit up was yet another similarity between him and the Doctor from my visions.

"But, all this plastic stuff. Who else knows about it?" Rose asked.

"No one." He said

"What, you're on your own?" I asked, the Doctor from my visions was always traveling with someone, whether it be just me, or me and another companion.

"Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on." He said

"Okay. Start from the beginning. I mean, if we're going to go with the living plastic, and I don't even believe that, but if we do, how did you kill it?" Rose asked.

"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead." He explained. My hand went to my necklace again, my head ache not calming down at all.

"So that's radio control?" Rose asked

"Thought control." He corrected. "Are you all right?" He asked me.

"Yeah." I lied. "So, who's controlling it, then?"

"Long story." He said.

"But what's it all for? I mean, shop window dummies, what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?" Rose asked, not understanding the meanings of the living plastic.

"No."

"No?" Rose asked.

"It's not a price war. They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?"

"No." Rose said.

"Yes." I said at the same time. Rose gave me a look. "They're like my visions." I said.

"Visions?" The Doctor asked.

"Long story." I said, using one of his lines. He let out a sigh.

He turned to Rose. "But you're still listening."

"Really, though, Doctor. Tell me, who are you?" Rose asked.

He grabbed mine and Rose's hands. "Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving? It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go." He dropped our hands. "That's who I am. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler. Ester Tyler. Go home."

He walked towards a brilliant blue police public call box. The same one from my visions. "Home." My watch locket whispered. "Finally home." I watched the box disappear.

"That's the man from my visions... I know him, Rose." I said, a tear falling down my face. "I know him, and he's alone. He dosen't deserve to be alone." I cried, sitting down on the pavement with Rose next to me.

***

A few days after meeting the Doctor for the first time, I was sitting on my bed, writing down all of the visions that had happened that day. Since meeting him, my visions have been happening more often, and they have become more vibrant. I've also noticed that my broken watch has been speaking more, asking me to open it. I've tried to open it, but the button was missing.

As I was writing I heard my watch tell me to "save the Doctor". I don't know why, but I listened to it. I quickly grabbed a bag and threw my phone and my journal in it, and took off running, following the directions my watch was telling me.

After some running, I ended up behind a pizza restaurant. Shortly after I got there, the Doctor and Rose bursted out of the back door.

"Ester?" Rose asked, breathing heavily.

"Yep, that's me." I said with a small wave of my hand. "The watch told me to come help you two." I explained.

"What?" The Doctor asked, after he sealed the door with his sonic screwdriver.

"No time." I said quickly. "Run!"

Rose took off running down an alley way, but the alley is blocked off by padlocked gates. "Open the gate! Use that tube thing. Come on!" She exclaimed

"Sonic screwdriver." The Doctor and I said at the same time. The Doctor looked at me like I had seven heads.

"Use it!" Rose exclaimed.

"Nah. Tell you what, let's go in here." The Doctor said, unlocking the blue box and going inside. I followed him while Rose stayed outside. It was beautiful. The coral supports to the metal grate floor to the console unit standing tall in the middle of it.

"You can't hide inside a wooden box. It's going to get us! Doctor!" Rose yelled. Rose ran inside the blue box, looked inside, ran outside, then ran back inside. "It's going to follow us!" She said once she decided to stay in the box.

"The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried. Now, shut up a minute." The Doctor said. "You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right. Where do you want to start?" He held up a plastic head. Mickey's head.

"Oh my God. That's Mickey." I gasped.

"Er, the inside's bigger than the outside?" Rose guesed.

"Yes." The Doctor said

"It's alien." Rose said.

"Yeah." The Doctor said.

"Are you alien?" Rose asked.

"Yes. Is that all right?" The Doctor asked.

"Yeah." Rose said.

"You're quiet." The Doctor said to me.

"I've seen it all before." I countered. "Well, not this desktop, and not that face." I said, poking him in the nose.

"What?" He asked, shock written all over his face.

"She has these visions..." Rose tried to explain.

"Come on, you've gotta remember me." I pleaded. "I remember you, somehow. The frail old man; the cosmic hobo; the suave, dapper old man with the big hair; the lunatic with the scarf; the cricket player with the stalk of celery; the man in the patchwork clothing; the one that rolled his R's and wore question marks on everything; the man in the Victorian suit; the one you probably don't want to talk about; and then there's you. Now, I've just met you, but this isn't the first time you've seen this face, now is it?" I asked. His eye's widened. "I know more about you than I do about me." I said, handing him my journal that I had in my bag.

"What-" He started.

"My visions. I write them all down, draw them sometimes. I've been having them for years. And I haven't understood them until now." I explained.

"We aren't done talking about this." The Doctor said, putting my journal on the console unit.

"Oh, trust me, I want answers just as much as you do." I said, sitting down on the jump seat.

"It's called the TARDIS, this thing. T A R D I S. That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space." The Doctor explianed before Rose broke out into tears. "That's okay. Culture shock. Happens to the best of us." He said, missing the real reason why she was crying.

"Did they kill him? Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?" Rose cried. I went to hug her.

"Oh. I didn't think of that." The Doctor said.

"You didn't think of that?" I hissed, looking at Mickey's head.

"He's my boyfriend. You pulled off his head. They copied him and you didn't even think? And now you're just going to let him melt?" Rose cried.

"Melt?" The Doctor said, his head snapping to the side to see the plastic head melting on the console. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" He exclaimed, setting the TARDIS into motion.

"What're you doing?" Rose asked.

"Following the signal. It's fading. Wait a minute, I've got it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Almost there. Almost there. Here we go!" He said, pulling levers and pushing buttons. The TARDIS finally landed and the Doctor ran outside.

"You can't go out there. It's not safe." Rose called, not knowing that we moved.

"I lost the signal, I got so close." The Doctor sighed.

"We've moved. Does it fly?" Rose said, looking around the dark, Westminster sky.

"Disappears there and reappears here. You wouldn't understand." He said, causing me to snort.

"You'd be surprised at what she can understand, she's bright." I defended my sister.

"If we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It's still on the loose." Rose said.

"It melted with the head. Are you going to witter on all night?"

"I'll have to tell his mother.  
Mickey. I'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you just went and forgot him, again! You were right, you are alien." Rose spat.

"Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey-" The Doctor started.

"Yeah, he's not a kid." I said.

"It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, all right?" The Doctor said in a heated tone.

"All right." Rose and I said.

"Yes, it is!" The Doctor huffed.

"If you are an alien, how comes you sound like you're from the North?" Rose asked.

"Rose, you can't just ask people why they sound northern." I joked.

"Lots of planets have a north." The Doctor explained

"What's a police public call box?" Rose asked.

"It's a telephone box from the 1950s. It's a disguise." He explained

"Okay. And this, this living plastic. What's it got against us?" She continued.

"Nothing. It loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Any way of stopping it?" Rose asked.

"Of course there is!" I said. The Doctor held up a vial of blue liquid.

"Anti-plastic." He said.

"Anti-plastic." Rose repeated.

"Anti-plastic." He nodded. "But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?" He questioned, pacing back and forth a bit.

"Hold on. Hide what?" I asked.

"The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal." He explained.

"What's it look like?" Rose asked.

"Like a transmitter. Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London." He began explaining. "A huge circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel. Radial. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible. What? What?" He continued pacing, not noticing we were standing right across the Thames from the London Eye. I cleared my throat, getting his attention. "What? What is it? What?" He finally caught on to what we were thinking. "Oh. Fantastic!"

"Saver of worlds, ay?" I joked as we started running across Westminster Bridge.

"Oh shush!" He exclaimed. "Think of it, plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables-"

"The breast implants." Rose and I snickered.

"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath." The Doctor said.

"What about down here?" I asked, motioning to an entrance.

"Looks good to me." He said before we ran down the steps and into the manhole. We climb down a small ladder into a brick area with lots of chains and many different levels and staircases. "The Nestene Consciousness. That's it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature." He said, motioning to the vat of plastic in the middle of the room.

"Well, then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go." Rose said.

"I'm not here to kill it. I've got to give it a chance." The Doctor explained. He walked down a catwalk that overlooked the vat. "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation." He said to the goop, causing it to flex. "Thank you. If I might have permission to approach?" He asked.

Rose ran down to a lower level, leaving me by the entrance to the room. "Oh, God! Mickey, it's me! It's okay. It's all right."

"That thing down there, the liquid. Rose, it can talk!" Mickey said, pointing at the vat while going further into a corner, trying to get as far away from it as possible.

"Doctor, they kept him alive." Rose called up to us.

"Yeah, that was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy." The Doctor said.

"You knew that and you never said?" I exclaimed.

"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?" The Doctor said, giving me a look. "Am I addressing the Consciousness?" The Doctor said to the vat. It flexed. "Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilisation by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?" The vat flexed to form the shape of a face. "Oh, don't give me that. It's an invasion, plain and simple." More flexing. "Don't talk about constitutional rights." More flexing. " _I am talking_!" The Doctor yelled, starling me. "This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf. Please, just go." He begged. I felt a pair of arms move my arms behind my back.

"Doctor!" I yelled, I turned around to see a shop dummy holding my arms back. "I don't have anything!" I exclaimed.

A pair of dummies pulled trapped the Doctor in a similar manner, and pulled out the vial of anti-plastic from his pocket. "That was just insurance. I wasn't going to use it. I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not. What do you mean?" A door slid back to reveal the TARDIS. "No. Oh, no. Honestly, no. Yes, that's my ship; but not her's. That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault. I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!" He cried out.

"What's it doing?!" Rose asked.

"It's the TARDIS! The Nestene's identified its superior technology. It's terrified. It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Rose, Ester! Just leg it now!" He yelled.

"I'm stuck too, you know!" I yelled. he turned to me, seeing me trapped.

A look of shock and recognition came over his face. "What's that thing around your neck?!" He asked.

"An old, broken FOB watch." I said. "I can't get it open, it speaks to me!" I cried, a defeated look on my face.

"But that's impossible!" He yelled.

"I'm sorry I don't remember how to open it! Kinda lost my memory remember! Is this really the time?" I asked, looking at the energy bolts the Consciousness started throwing around.

"It's the activation signal. It's transmitting!" The Doctor yelled.

I was going to die here, I just knew it. "Rose!" I yelled. "Get out!"

The dummies tried pushing me into the vat. I tried my best to stand my ground, but they started inching me closer and closer to the edge of the platform.

"Time Lords." The vat said.

Rose somehow managed to kick two of the dummies into the vat, along with the anti-plastic. The vat let out a blood curtailing scream as it began to turn blue. The dummy holding me dropped to the ground, and I started running to the TARDIS as the explosions started. Soon, we were all inside and the TARDIS began to dematerialize.

The Tardis materialized and Micky runs out. Rose followed him and I stayed next to the Doctor, who stood in the doorway.

"A fat lot of good you were." Rose said to the Doctor, a wide grin on her face.

"Nestene Consciousness? Easy." The Doctor scoffed.

"You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me." She countered.

"Yes, I would. Thank you. Right then, I'll be off, unless, er, I don't know, you could come with me. This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge." He bargained. I really wanted to say yes, to stay with him. To figure out who I was. To make sure he wasn't alone.

"Don't. He's an alien. He's a thing." Mickey said.

"He's not invited. What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere." The Doctor said.

"Is it always this dangerous?" Rose asked.

"Yeah." The Doctor said, causing my grin to grow.

"Yeah, I can't. I've her, I've got to go and find my mum and someone's got to look after this stupid lump, so." Rose said with a sad smile, making me remember about the school, my job, and Mum. My smile slowly diminished.

I couldn't stay...

"I can't either, I'd love too... But my job... The kids..." I said, stepping out of the TARDIS.

"Okay. See you around." He said with a small smile. He walked in, closed the doors, and the TARDIS dematerialized before I had the chance to change my mind.

"Come on, let's go. Come on. Come on." Rose said.

"I left my journal in there, on the console..." I said. Suddenly, the TARDIS rematerialized, and the Doctor stuck his head out.

"By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?" He said. Rose and I looked at each other, and I ran into the TARDIS, Rose right behind me.

This was it.

The beginning to my story.

My impossible story.


	3. What I Really Am

"So, where too?" The Doctor asked, flipping switches and pushing buttons as he ran around the console.

"Wait, can you park this thing for a moment?" I asked. "I don't know about the two of you, but I would really like to figure out what exactly I am." I said, sitting on the jump seat, my journal in hand.

"But don't you wanna see the universe?" The Doctor asked, trying to avoid the question at hand.

"Yeah, but I don't want this thought in the back of my mind, ruining it all." I argued.

The Doctor sighed, fiddled with a few switches, and stopped the TARDIS. "We're in the Time Vortex," he explained. "Now, about these visions."

"I've had them since I lost my memories. Mum took me to a doctor, put me on medication, didn't work. I didn't tell anyone else that the visions continued aside from Rose. Mum thinks I haven't had one in eight years." I explained. "Whenever I get a vision, I write it in here." I handed him the small, black journal. "All of my visions have to do with me, you, the TARDIS, and different companions. They've became more frequent and vivid after I met you." I explained.

He flipped through the book, speed reading it and looking at the pictures.

"But-but this, this is  _impossible_." He said. "How can you be her? She died on Gallifrey... Unless..." His eyes widened, hope flowing through them. He ran into the corridor, leaving Rose and I in the console room.

"Where did he go?" Rose said. "he can't just leave us in here. What if something goes wrong?" Rose asked, looking at the console nervously.

"Nothing'll go wrong. We'll be just fine." I reassured my little sister.

I started thinking, what if I really  _was_  like the Doctor? What if the visions were true? What if I  _was_  a Time Lord?

"Rose?" I asked my sister, deep in thought.

"Yeah?" She asked, leaning against the railing that ran around the console unit.

"What if I am like him? What if I'm not human?" I asked, looking at her.

"Well," she said, thinking about it. " You'd still be you, yeah? Just not you..." She said, not knowing how to phrase it.

"Gee, that's reassuring." I said sarcastically.

"You know what I mean!" She exclaimed. "You'd still be you, and that's all that matters. You'd still be the best sister in the world, and my best friend." I felt a little better, hearing this come from her, but I still felt uneasy about how she and Mum would really react.

The Doctor sprinted back into the console room, his left hand closed, holding something I couldn't see.

"You know," he started. "None of this would make sense if it weren't for that." He pointed to my broken watch.

"My watch?" I asked, not following.

"That is a FOB watch, it's broken yeah?" He asked.

"Yeah." I said slowly.

"But what dose an old watch have to do with anything?" Rose asked.

"Oh, Rose, that's just it. It doesn't have to do with anything, it has to do with  _everything_."

My eyes widened. "How so?"

"Because," he started. "That watch talks, right?"

"Yeah, but how do you know-" I questioned.

"Cause I'm very, very clever." He said with a grin. "And it has circles on it? The watch is missing a button to open it?" He continued to question.

"Yes." I said, my eyes wide.

"Then here." He opened his left hand and dropped a little piece of metal, the same type as my watch, into my hand. "One of your friends gave this to me shortly after you went missing, said you'd want me to have it. I didn't understand until now." I took the button and clicked it into place.

"Open me." It whispered, loud enough to be heard over the soft humming of the TARDIS.

Rose gasped, hearing the watch for the first time. The Doctor looked at me with an excited, hopeful look. "What happens if I open it?" I asked nervously, not taking my eyes off the watch.

"Your Time Lord soul will return to your body, turning you back to the way you were before you were trapped in there." He explained softly.

"Will I remember?"

"Everything."

"But what about me.  _This_  me. The human one, what will happen to me?" I asked, more nervous by the second.

"The human you will be gone." He said.

"So what, this me dies? So the other can live on?" I said, my hands shaking out of fear and my voice increasing in pitch.

"Yes, but Ester, the you that is in that watch is the same girl that is standing in front of me." He said, taking both of my hands in his. I looked up from the watch to meet his eyes, shocked at the connection I could feel between us. "You've seen her before, in your visions. You know what she's like, all of the fantastic things she's capable of doing. The people she's capable of saving." He said. "All you have to do is push that button and open the watch."

I closed my eyes for a few seconds and sighed, nodding my head. I turned to Rose. "I love you." I told her. "If anything happens to me, tell Mum I went traveling, tell her I love her. Tell her anything but this." I said. Rose nodded.

"You'll be okay. Won't she Doctor?" Rose asked, looking over at him.

"Sure she will." He said before letting go of my hands and taking a step back. "Whenever you're ready." He nodded.

I took in a breath, trying to calm my unsteady nerves. I reached around the back of my neck and undid the clasp that held the chain together. I held the FOB watch in my hand and turned it over once, twice, three times, before finally opening it.

Gold light flooded out if the watch, and with it came all of my memories. The Academy; helping the Doctor get our type 40 TARDIS; traveling with him for four of my regenerations, and eight of his; all of our companions; all of the wonderful places we had gone. But then came the dark. Losing everyone of our companions, some to death, some to life; the Time War; the screams of children; the lasers blasting on my home planet; all the death and destruction.

But then came the memory of my parents forcing me to regenerate. My mother cried and my father looked so broken. I remembered them strapping me into their Chameleon Arch. Taking my memories and putting them into a FOB watch, drugging me before sending me to Earth. Saving me from the Time War. Saving me from  _him_.

I could feel my right heart beating strongly, finally feeling whole again. I looked at the Doctor, met his eyes, and then ran to my best friend, giving him a hug.

"You're back!" He said, lifting me so that my feet off the ground.

"That I am, Doctor." I laughed. "The Teacher is back!" I laughed as I buried my head in his shoulder.

"I thought I lost you. You never came back after visiting your parents. I thought you'd died." He said sorrowfully into my hair.

Rose cleared her throat. "Ester?" She asked.

"Rose!" I exclaimed, turning around. "I've got both of my hearts!" I laughed.

"You haven't changed that much, now have you?" She asked, seeing how similar my personality was to my human form.

"Nope." I said, popping the 'p'. Rose ran over to me, giving me a hug and laughing.

"This is so cool!" She laughed. "My sister's an alien!"

The Doctor smiled at the two of us, happier than I have seen him in the past years. "So Rose Tyler, Teacher, forwards or backwards?" He asked.

"Teacher?" Rose asked.

"My Time Lord title, like the Doctor." I explained. "But Ester has sort of grown on me, I think I might keep it." I said, looking at the Doctor.

"Very well, Ester." He said, testing it out. "I think it suits you perfectly. Now where too?" He asked, getting cabin fever already.

"Forwards." Rose decided.

The Doctor ran around, flipping switches and twisting knobs on the console.

"My room still on here?" I asked him.

"Of course, might've moved with the new desktop, though." He said.

"Love it by the way, nice grungy look. I'm going to sit this one out, I need to rest a bit. See you when you get back, take her somewhere fantastic." I demanded, pointing a finger at him.

"You sure?" He asked.

"Yeah, I don't know if I'm going to get any side effects like I do with regeneration, if I do, I'd rather be in here instead of running somewhere." I explained. I turned to Rose. "Have fun, you'll love it." I promised her.

I walked off into the corridor in search of my old room. ' _Come on old girl,'_  I thought ' _Where'd you put it?'_  I eventually found my old, dark red door, and went into my room.

It was like coming home, stacks of old and new books scattered the room, I sat my bag down on one of the oversized chairs in the room, and settled into my gigantic bed, sinking just a little. I put my head on one of the white cotton covered pillows, and I was out like a light. 


	4. The Lodgers

I was awake by the time the Doctor and Rose had gotten back from visiting "The death of the Earth" as Rose had put it. After the long nap I had taken, I felt more like myself again, almost as if I wasn't stuck in a human body for eight years.

Rose seemed pretty distraught over the idea of the Earth burning, of everything she knew ending, so the Doctor took us back to our time to show her that things are alright.

I stayed inside the TARDIS to let them have their moment; I was content on just listening to the hum of the TARDIS. It seemed as if I had never left her, the way we just sort of slid back into the mental connection we had once shared.

"We're going to get chips, wanna come?" Rose asked, sticking her head into the TARDIS.

"Hm, no, I think I'll skip out on it this time, I need to tell my job that I will be going traveling," I said, following Rose out of the TARDIS, picking up my canvas bag from the jump seat as I went.

"Where are you going?" the Doctor asked when I started walking the opposite direction of the two of them.

"I have to go quit my job, looks like I'm going to be traveling for a while," I said with a grin.

"It dose, doesn't it?" he agreed with a similar grin. I left with a nod and headed towards the primary school where I worked at. I was almost there when I heard a familiar wheezing sound of the TARDIS, and soon, the blue box was standing a head of me.

' _He must have thought I left something,_ ' I thought, a grin slipping its way onto my face. I ran to the TARDIS and opened the door, I was taken back by the desktop theme I had never seen before. I saw a tall, lanky man who looked like he was no older than 24. Next to him was a young girl with bright red hair.

"Great! You're here, get in then," the man with the face of a child said.

"Ester!" the girl next to him exclaimed.

My eyes widened and I backed out of the TARDIS, prepared to run, run back to the Doctor.

Then it hit me. What if...

"Doctor?" I asked.

"The one and only, what have we done so far? Have we done Venice yet?"

"Uhmm... No. Whose the girl?" I asked, assuming she was a companion. "And is that a bow tie?" I asked.

"Wait," the girl spoke up. "She hasn't met us yet?" the girl said. "But she always knows who I am. She knew who I was before-" the Doctor cut her off.

"Ester?" he asked. "What did you do last?" he had a look of concern etched on his face. I took the time to realize how much older his eyes were than the Doctor I had just left.

"I left the TARDIS. Short hair, leather jacket you. I just turned full Time Lord again," I said slowly, unsure of all of this.

"Well, you're still very early on then... This is Amelia Pond, Amy, you already know Ester," he said quickly.

"Hold on early on? Do you see different versions of me?" I questioned.

"Well, not different versions, just you at different points in your time stream." He explained.

"So you're telling me that I keep showing up at different parts of your time stream?" I asked, rubbing my temples.

"Yes, now get in the TARDIS; it's all a bit Wibbily Wobbly Timey Whimey," he explained.

I walked closer to the console unit. "Okay, so this regeneration is a bow tie wearing, floppy haired child who talks like he's three?" I asked the red head, who I now knew as Amy.

"Bow ties are cool." he defended, fixing his bow tie and going back to flipping switches on the console unit, flying us through the Vortex. I made eye contact with Amy, who nodded with a small grin when the Doctor wasn't looking.

"He also has a fez sometimes," Amy added, causing the two of us to burst out laughing.

I could tell I was going to like Amy a lot.

***

"And... Here we are," the Doctor said when he landed the TARDIS. "The fifth moon of Cindie Colesta," he said, I grinned and ran out the door, excited for an adventure.

It definitely wasn't a moon.

"Doctor, Amy," I called. The Doctor came out of the TARDIS. He took in the fact that we had landed in a suburb somewhere.

"No, Amy, Ester, it's definitely not the fifth moon of Cindie Colesta. I think I can see a Ryman's," he said looking out into the distance, squinting his eyes. There was an explosion from inside the TARDIS, sending the Doctor and I to the ground. Before we could even think about getting up, the TARDIS started dematerializing, "Amy! Amy!" the Doctor yelled at the disappearing box.

"So... got an explanation for that? Because I don't," I said a few minutes after the TARDIS was gone. The two of us were still on the ground, propped up by our elbows, more than likely looking like a pair of nut jobs.

"I'm sure there is... Probably..." he said, sitting up.

"Well, that's reassuring now, isn't it?" I joked. The Doctor stood up. "Give me a hand, will ya?" I asked. He grinned down at me before offering his hand, I gladly took it and he helped me back on my feet.

"So, where to now, eh?" he asked as we walked around the street we were dumped on.

"Well, judging on how the Sun is positioned in the sky," I said, pointing at it. "It looks like it's going to set soon. We should find some where to spend the night."

"Good thinking," he said, awkwardly.

"You alright?" I asked, not knowing if this was just a weird quirk of this regeneration or if something was really bothering him.

"It's just that I haven't had to deal with a version as young as you are in a long while, all the one's I've seen recently are much farther in your time stream and-" I cut him off when his explanation started turning into rambling.

"Now what's  _really_  wrong?" I asked.

"Can I hold your hand?" he asked, causing me to laugh.

"I've known you for 900 years! You're my best mate! You don't have to ask permission to hold my hand!" I laughed, taking his hand in mine, feeling a small but noticeable electric shock, like static electricity, when our hands touched.

"I wasn't sure... With you just changing and all..." he mumbled, along with some other things that I could quiet catch.

"Seriously, don't worry about it," I said, giving his hand a squeeze. "Now come on then, let's find an inn or something. You got any money for a room?"

"No, but I can get some..." he said, taking out his sonic screwdriver with his free hand and twirled it around a bit. "All we need is an ATM, and we'll be good," he explained.

"Great!" I smiled, getting one in return. We continued walking in comfortable silence, just enjoying each other's presence. Eventually, we came across an ATM and we were able to get several thousand pounds out of the machine with the sonic.

"That should cover it, right?" the Doctor asked, looking at the large paper bag with the money in it.

"Oh, I'm sure it will," I laughed, taking his hand once more after he put his sonic away. "Now let's go find an inn, the sun's going down."

Eventually we found a small inn. It wasn't the nicest place, but it was still better than sleeping in the streets. We walked in, and found a tired looking man sitting behind the front desk.

"Uhm, hello," I said, nodding at the man.

"We would like a room," the Doctor said, a wide grin on his face.

The man behind the desk let out a grunt. "We've only got one room open."

I fought back the urge to correct his grammar. "That's fine," I said.

The Doctor took out a wad of money out of the paper bag. "Will this cover it?" the man's eyes widened and he nodded. Without saying anything, the man took us down a hallway and up some stairs, then down another hallway until we got to a room.

"This one's the only one I got open," the man said.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," the Doctor reassured him. The man nodded, handed the Doctor the key to the room and left.

The Doctor began fumbling with the lock and key, trying to get the door open. While he was trying to get it open, I quickly slipped my hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. I aimed it at the lock and turned it on, causing the tip to light up green and the sonic to make it's whirling sound. I held it there for a second, the Doctor looking at me now, and then I lightly tapped the door and it flew open.

"I could have gotten it..." he said, red in the face and looking down at his shoes.

"Sure," I laughed. "Keep telling yourself that buddy," I walked past him, into the room, and took a look around. It was a run down looking room, but not the worst that it could have been; I had slept in different jail cells before, and this was definitely a step up from there. The only issue I could find, was that there was only a single twin sized bed in the room. "Uhm, Doctor?" I said, calling him into the room.

He walked in a saw the small bed as well. "Well then." he walked over to the bed and flopped down onto it, lying on his back. He patted the small spot on the bed next to him. "You coming?" He asked.

I stared at him with wide eyes. Sure he was my best friend, and I've known him since before we left for the Academy, but I've never had to... share a bed with him... "Uhm..." I said, not sure what else to say.

"Oh," he said, noticing my awkwardness. "I forgot how early on you are. Here, you can have the bed and I'll be on the floor," he said, getting of the bed with a warming smile.

"No," I said quickly. "You don't have to do that! I can sleep on the floor and you can have the bed, I don't mind, really."

"No, you're sleeping on the bed, and I'll be on the floor," he argued, motioning to me to go on the bed.

"You haven't gotten any less stuborn, have you?" I asked with a smile. "After all this time."

"You haven't either, you never do," He said softly, walking closer to me. Soon as he was close enough, I took advantage and warped my arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug like I had done so many other times, but all of them so many years ago.

But something had changed.

This hug was different. I felt electric currents run through my body, like when our hands had touched before, but more intense. He wrapped his arms around my waist, squeezing me.

We stayed like that for a while, just enjoying being close to one another. "I missed this." I sighed. "All those years of being human, feeling like something was missing form my life, and I've found it again. This," I let out a small laugh. "Isn't it just fantastic that even when I wasn't  _me_ , I still felt like  _this_  was missing." I pulled back my head from it's place on his shoulder, and looked him in the eyes. Those old eyes that have seen too much. "How long were you alone? When I was human?"

He closed his eyes and sighed. He was quiet for a bit before he responded. "275 years. When you met the other me, I had just ended the Time War, just left Galifrey for the final time."

"So the Time War... it lasted-"

"400 years."

"I'm so sorry," I said, looking into his eyes as tears stung mine.

He pulled away from me and walked across the room, leaving me by the bed. "Sorry?" He exclaimed. "What have you got to be sorry for? I'm the one that burned our planet, killed our people, completed double genocide. You were here, you have nothing to be sorry for!"

"That's where you're wrong!" I yelled. "I have everything to be sorry for. I left you, on your own for all those years. I left you to end the war on your own! I left you! That's I've got to be sorry for." I exclaimed, a tear running down my face. "We're a team, we decided on that long before we even started traveling. I should have been there, with you, because no one should ever have to go through anything like that alone."

His eyes met mine from across the room, and soon enough he was back by my side, his arms wrapped around me, his head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around him as well, and soon I felt his body shake as a sob racked through his body. I was crying too, it was impossible not to with the amount of raw emotions flooding through the room.

Eventually, we both calmed down, and laid down on the bed, neither one of us wanting to be too far away from the other. "Thank you," he said to me.

"For what?" I asked.

"Being here," he said, grabbing my hand and intertwining our fingers together.

"Not a problem," I said with half lidded eyes and a sleepy smile. I let out a yawn and I was out like a light shortly after.

***

The next morning, I woke up in the small bed. I wasn't sure where the Doctor was until I noticed something warm against my back and two arms wrapped around my stomach. Accepting the fact that I would more than likely be trapped until the Doctor woke up, and urged by the warm tingling in my back, I fell back asleep.

When I woke up for the second time, it was because of the sudden loss of contact. I groaned when I felt the small bed shift when the Doctor got off. He looked at me with a smile on his face and I tried to return it but a sudden yawn took over that idea.

"Not much of a morning person, eh?" He joked.

"Have I ever been?" I countered, getting up off the bed.

"True." he said, putting his shoes back on. Neither of us had any night clothes with us, and I had left my bag in the TARDIS, so last night we had just kicked off our shoes and slept in our clothes.

"Food?" I suggested, tying up my combat boots.

"Yeah." he nodded in agreement.

Once we were ready, we left the room and headed back out to the streets, the paper bag with the money in hand; looking for a place to eat. We eventually found a place, sat down in a booth and waited for a waitress.

"What's all that for?" I asked the Doctor, who had taken a few small bits of metal out of his never-ending pockets.

"Communication pod." He explained. "They're linked with the TARDIS; so  _if_  everything is fine, then we can stay in contact with Amy. She can hear us, and we can hear her."

"I assume I get one too, then?"

He looked at me for a minute, sighed, and started fishing for another set of bits to make another pod. I simply laughed, and opened up the paper that was sitting next to the menu. When I picked the paper up, I noticed a slip of white paper fluttering down to the table top.

"Here, you know what to do with this." The Doctor said, handing me the ear pod. I put it in my right ear, just as the Doctor had done with his. "And now we can test it-"

"No, wait a second." I said, picking up the slip of paper. Written on it in red ink was an address, and the words " _Flatmate, stay here, Amy_ " along with the slip was a map, folded inside the paper and the same address circled multiple times in red. "Amy's already left us a note." I said, grinning at him. I slipped out of the booth, grabbed his hand, and we started running out towards the address.

***

"Are you sure this is it?" The Doctor asked, after he knocked on the door.

"According to Amy it is." I said, looking back at the map and paper. Suddenly, the front door opened and a young, stout man with a set of fluffy pink keys in his hand stood in front of us.

"I love you." He said. I looked at him oddly, slightly confused.

"Well, that's good." The Doctor said. "Because we're your new lodgers. Do you know, this is going to be easier than I expected." He said to me, taking the keys out of the man's hand.

"But I only put the advert up today. I didn't put my address." The man stuttered.

"Well, aren't you lucky I came along? More lucky than you know. Less of a young professional, more of an ancient amateur, but frankly I'm an absolute dream." The Doctor gloated, causing me to elbow him in his side.

"Terribly sorry about him, he had a bit too much coffee this morning." I lied, giving the man a small smile, sensing he was overwhelmed by all of this.

"Hang on a minute, mate. I don't know if I want you staying. And give me back those keys. You can't have those." He said to the Doctor, pointing to the keys in his hand.

"Yes, quite right." The Doctor said, handing the pink keys to the man. "Have some rent." The Doctor then handed over his paper bag of money. The man looked at the bag with wide eyes. "That's probably quite a lot, isn't it? Looks like a lot. Is it a lot? I can never tell."

"We haven't been here very long." I said, adding some context to the Doctor's comments. We finally walked into the house and into the main hall, where the two townhouses separated. From where I was standing, I could see lights flickering from the upstairs house.

"Don't spend it all on sweets." The Doctor said. "Unless you like sweets. I like sweets." I put my hand in his shoulder to stop his rambling. "Ooo." The Doctor proceeded to give the now utterly confused man a few air kisses. "That's how we greet each other nowadays, isn't it? I'm the Doctor. Well, they call me the Doctor. I don't know why. She called me the Doctor too. Again, don't know why. I call me the Doctor, too. Still don't know why."

"I'm Ester, they call me Ester. That one calls me Ester, too." I said, pointing a finger at the Doctor.

"Craig Owens." The man, Craig, said. "The Doctor? Ester?"

"Yep." We nodded.

"Who lives upstairs?" I asked, pointing upstairs.

"Just some bloke." Craig said.

"What's he look like?" I asked.

"Normal. He's very quiet."

There was a crash coming from upstairs, causing me to snort. "Sounds like it."

"Usually. Sorry. Are you two married or something?" Craig asked.

Before I could correct him, the Doctor answered. "Yes, yes we are." He gave me a look, telling me to go along with it. He grabbed for my hand, and I took a hold of his, squeezing it hard as I plastered a fake grin on my face.

"It was a lovely reception." I said with the same smile on my face. _'Oh, I am so going to kill him...'_ I thought, residing the urge to hit the Doctor upside the head.

"Congratulations."

"Thank you." The Doctor said, pulling me inside the flat, past Craig.

"Excuse me?" Craig exclaimed.

The flat was a nice, homely looking place. The only thing odd about it was the mass of dark stuff on the ceiling. "Ah. I suppose that's dry rot?" The Doctor inferred.

"Or damp. Or mildew." Craig said.

"Or none of the above." I added, stepping closer to the affected area.

"I'll get someone to fix it." Craig said.

"No, I'll fix it. I'm good at fixing rot. Call me the Rotmeister. No, I'm the Doctor, don't call me the Rotmeister." The Doctor said. I laughed at this, and he turned to me with a grin.

"I might just start calling you that." I giggled.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at me and opened his mouth to say something, but then turned back to Craig. "This is the most beautiful parlour I have ever seen. You're obviously a man of impeccable taste. We can stay, Craig, can't we? Say we can." The Doctor pleaded.

I looked at Craig with wide eyes. "Please?"

"You haven't even seen the room." Craig said,

"The room?" We asked

"Your room."

"Our room? Oh, yes. Our room. Our room. Take us to our room." The Doctor said, I linked my arm in his, and Craig lead us to our room. Craig took us down a hallway and past some door until we got to our room.

It had a 1980's feel about it and a queen sized bed, much better than the one we had last night.

"Yeah, this is Mark's old room. He owns the place. Moved out about a month ago. This uncle he'd never even heard of died and left a load of money in the will." Craig said.

"How very convenient. This'll do just right. In fact." The Doctor said. "Do you like it?"

"Oh it's wonderful." I said with a wide grin on my face. Just before the Doctor was going to say something else, a loud crash, much like the first, came from above our heads. The Doctor looked around, grabbed my hand, and licked my index finger, moving it around as if he was testing the air. "What the Hell are you-"

"Shh." the Doctor told me. I looked at him, completely disgusted. No time to lose. We'll take it. Ah you'll want to see our credentials. There." The Doctor dropped my hand and took out the physic paper. I took advantage of this and wiped my spit covered finger on his face. He was unphased. Weirdo. "National Insurance number. NHS number. References." The Doctor listed, showing the paper to Craig three spreads times.

"Is that a reference from the Archbishop of Canterbury?" Craig asked, speechless.

"She's his special favorite." The Doctor said, pointing at me. "Are you hungry? I'm hungry. My wife is very good at cooking."

"I haven't got anything in." Craig explained.

"Oh, you haven't seen what I can make out of nothing." I said with a smirk.

We walked into the kitchen and I got out a pan, ready to cook. I took a look in the fridge to see that Craig had everything I needed for omelets.

"So, who's the girl on the fridge?" I asked, pointing to a picture of Craig and a blonde girl, next to a postcard with van Gogh's Self-portrait in Straw Hat.

"My friend. Sophie."

"Ooh." I said, looking up from my pan and wiggling my eyebrows.

"Girlfriend?" The Doctor asked.

"A friend who is a girl. There's nothing going on." Craig said, turning red.

"Sure..."

"Oh, that's completely normal. Works for me." The Doctor said offhandedly.

"But you said you were married," Craig said, looking confused.

"Oh, we are." I said, going along with our cover story. "We just travel a lot with our friends. We've had a few blokes with us, but most of them are girls. My sister Rose; his friend from school, Amy; a girl I worked with named Sarah Jane and her dog..." I trailed off, a smile on my face as I looked off into space. Sure these were stories I had just came up with, but my feelings for these women were strong, even if I had just met Amy. "We don't like traveling alone much, but we're giving the domestic thing a try." I said, getting back on subject and turning back to my food in the hot pan.

"So, you and Sophie; how did you meet?" The Doctor asked.

"We met at work about a year ago, at the call centre."

"Oh really, a communications exchange? That could be handy." The Doctor nodded.

"Firm's going down though. The bosses are using a totally rubbish business model. I know what they should do. I got a plan all worked out. But I'm just a phone drone, I can't go running in saying I know best." Craig sighed. "Why am I telling you this? I don't even know you." He questioned, snapping back into reality.

"Well, I've got one of those faces. People never stop blurting out their plans while I'm around." The Doctor shrugged.

"It comes in handy most of the time." I added, placing the food on three plates.

"Right. Where's your stuff?" Craig asked.

"Oh, don't worry, it'll materialise. If all goes to plan." The Doctor said uneasily. I caught his eyes and I could see the worry in them. He gave me a reassuring smile and I returned it with a small smile.

I really hoped everything would be okay in the end, not just for Amy's sake, or my own, or even the TARDIS's; but mainly for the Doctor's sake. Just from looking at his eyes and comparing them to the Doctor I was with not too long ago, this man seemed like he had lost too many people already, and I'd be damned if I'd let him lose the TARDIS and the person who seemed to be one of his best friends.

***

"Oh, that was incredible," Craig said after all the food had been eaten. "That was absolutely brilliant. Where did you learn to cook?"

"Paris, in the eighteenth century. No, hang on, that's not recent, is it? Seventeenth? No, no, no. Twentieth. Sorry, I'm not used to doing them in the right order." I rambled, trying to remember the date. Although I had gotten my memory back when I opened the FOB watch, some events and dates were still fuzzy.

"Has anyone ever told you that the two of you are a bit weird?"

"Oh, all the time." I laughed.

"They never really stop," the Doctor agreed. "Ever been to Paris, Craig?"

"Nah. I can't see the point of Paris. I'm not much of a traveller."

"Shame, it's a great life." I said in awe. "Great big universe filled with all types of things. But, it's not for everyone. It can get lonely if you don't have the right people." I caught the Doctor's gaze and smiled at him. He took my hand in his and placed them both on my lap.

"I can tell from your sofa, that you don't travel, that is." The Doctor said.

"My sofa?"

"You're starting to look like it." The Doctor said, causing me to snort and burry my head in the Doctor's shoulder for a moment, trying to contain my laughter.

"Thanks, mate, that's lovely.   
No, I like it here. I'd miss it, I'd miss-" Craig trailed off into a train of thought. He kept running his fingers over the fuzzy, pink key ring.

"Those keys." The Doctor said.

"What?"

"You're sort of fondling them." I said, pointing at his hand with my free one.

"I'm holding them." He defended.

"Sure..."

"Right..."

"Anyway. These." Craig said, pulling out a second set of keys from his pocket. "These are your keys."

"We can stay?" I asked, a grin on my face.

"Yeah, you're weird and you can cook. It's good enough for me. Right. Outdoor, front door, your door."

"Our door. Our place. Our gaff. Ha ha!" The Doctor laughed turning to me. "Yes. Me with a key. Imagine that!"

"Fantastic isn't it?" I laughed.

"And listen, Mark and I, we had an arrangement where if you ever need me out of your hair, just give me a shout, okay?" Craig explained.

"Why would we want that?" The Doctor asked, as oblivious as a three year old as always.

"In case you two want to have a special night, or something." Craig said. The Doctor and I both turned bright red.

"Oh, I will. I'll shout if that happens. Yes. Something like, I was not expecting this!" The Doctor exclaimed, his face still red. "By the way, that. The rot. I've got the strangest feeling we shouldn't touch it."

"That includes poking it with a stick." I stated for clarification.

***

"Earth to Pond, Earth to Pond." The Doctor said, once he had activated our ear pods. We were in our room later that night, and the first step to trying to get Amy and the TARDIS back was to make sure we could communicate with the two. "Come in, Pond."

"Doctor!" Came Amy's voice, blasting through our ear pods.

"Hey!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry..." Was the softer reply.

"Could you not wreck my new earpiece, Pond?" The Doctor asked, slightly agitated.

"Oi, give her a break, it's alien tech that she probably hasn't seen yet." I said, defending my newfound friend.

"Thank you Ester." Amy said.

"How's the Tardis coping?" The Doctor asked Amy. In the background, we could both heard a low, sad groaning coming from the TARDIS.

"Aw, my poor baby. She misses me." I said with a frown.

"Ooo, nasty. She's locked in a materialisation loop, trying to land again, but she can't." The Doctor said.

"Hmm. And whatever's stopping her is upstairs in that flat. So, go upstairs and sort it." Amy suggested.

I sat down on the edge of our bed. "We don't know what it is yet. Anything that can stop the TARDIS from landing is big. Scary big." The Doctor said. He met my eyes, he had a worried look in his eyes, and I could only guess mine looked the same right about then.

"We can't get ourselves into a situation without having a way to get out." I explained. "This would be a totally different situation if we had the TARDIS."

"Wait. Are the two of you scared?" Amy asked, an uneasy tone in her voice.

"Be fair. Could be even worse." The Doctor defended.

"Yeah, we could have seven things going on." I added.

"Or even seven things and a lizard going on." The Doctor added with a smile. "Any way, we can't go up there until we know what it is and how to deal with it. And it is vital that this man upstairs doesn't realise who and what we are. So no sonicking. No advanced technology. We can only use this because we're on scramble. To anyone else hearing this conversation, we're talking absolute gibberish. Now all we've got to do is pass as an ordinary human beings. Simple. What could possibly go wrong?" The Doctor said smugly.

"Have you seen you?" Amy asked.

"Hey! I'm better than he is!" I exclaimed.

"True..." Amy trailed.

"So you're just going to be snide. No helpful hints?" The Doctor asked.

"Yeah." I added. "I can't really help him on this one, haven't spent much time at all with human guys; now I have to pretend I'm married to one."

"Married?" Amy giggled.

"His idea."

"Could've been worse..." The Doctor trailed off, he seemed to be thinking about something, or maybe someone...

"Hmm. Well, here's one. Bow tie, get rid."

The Doctor looked offended. I laughed as he stood up perfectly strait and fixed his bow tie. "Bow ties are cool. Come on, Amy, I'm a normal bloke. Tell me what normal blokes do."

"They watch telly, they play football." Amy listed. "They go down the pub."

"I could do those things. I don't, but I could." The Doctor said, deep in thought.

"Ha! You, at a pub?" I laughed, clutching my stomach as I fell backwards on the bed. Shortly after I did so, there was a loud band upstairs and we could hear the TARDIS going crazy from our ear pods. "Amy?"

"Hang on. Wait, wait, wait. Amy?" The Doctor asked. I looked at him, worry in my eyes. I noticed the arms of the alarm clock moving forwards and backwards rapidly.

"Interesting. Localised time loop." the Doctor said, looking at his watch.

"Yeah." I agreed. "You don't see those very often, huh?"

"Ow. What's all that?" Amy's voice came ringing through above the noise coming from the TARDIS.

"Time distortion." I explained. "Whatever's happening upstairs is still affecting you."

"It's stopped. Ish..." Amy said once he TARDIS seemed to get quieter. "How about your end?"

"Our end's good."

"So..." Amy trailed. "Doesn't sound great, but nothing to worry about?"

"Eh..." I trailed off.

"No, no, no, not really. Just keep the zigzag plotter on full. That'll protect you." The Doctor said.

The TARDIS sounded like it made a sharp turn. "Ow!" Amy cried.

"Amy, I said the zigzag plotter!"

"I pulled the zigzag plotter!"

"What, you're standing with the door behind you?" The Doctor asked.

"Yes."

"Okay, take two steps to your right and pull it again." There was a pause, and the TARDIS went back to normal. "Now, I must not use the sonic. I've got work to do."

"You know, I never did get my sonic or physic paper yet. Or even a key... What happened with all of my stuff?" I asked the Doctor, who was halfway out of the room.

"I'll explain later!" He called "You need to sleep! I'll be back!"

"Hey!" Amy and I exclaimed.

***

"Hurry up!" I groaned, knocking on the bathroom door. My words fell on death ears as the Doctor was singing La Donna e mobile. I waited by the door, towel in hand, wanting to just get showered. I hadn't been able to do so since I ran off after Rose and 9 (as I decided to call him), and I was feeling gross.

Craig came along shortly, also wanting to get in. "He almost done?"

"I don't know, I sure hope so." I sighed.

"Ta ra ra boom de ay! Quanda rilo, something is happening."

"Doctor?" Craig asked, knocking on the door.

"Good luck with that," I sighed. ' _Maybe if I slammed my head against the door a couple times he would hear me..._ '

"Hello?" The Doctor called out from over the noise of the water.

"Oh! I see how it is! You listen to him, but not me!" I huffed, sliding my back down the wall until I was sitting on the ground.

"How long are you going to be in there?" Craig asked

"Oh, sorry. I like a good soak," the Doctor explained. There was a loud bang from upstairs.

"What the hell was that?" Craig asked, looking up at ths ceiling.

"Oh, I'm sure it was nothing." I said, trying to prevent him from going upstairs.

"I'm just going to go upstairs. See if he's okay." Craig said, going down the hall way. I followed him, convincing him that 'he' would be okay if he didn't go up. Luckily for me, the Doctor came running down the hall right before Craig started going up the stairs.

"What happened, what's going on?" The Doctor demanded as he pointed an electric toothbrush at the door and tribes it on, like he would a sonic screwdriver. I took a second to realize he was only in a towel, with his wet hair sticking out all over the place. Leave it to him...

"That's not your sonic." I whispered in his ear. He looked at it before turning it off, his 'I-Need-Information-About-Whatever-Is-Going-On-And-I-Need-It-Now' look still on his face.

"Is that my toothbrush?" Craig asked.

"Correct. You spoke to the man upstairs?"

"Yeah."

The Doctor turned to me, worry evident on his face. "Did you talk to him?"

"No, he didn't see me, I didn't see him." I explained.

The Doctor turned to Craig. "What did he look like?"

"More normal than you do at the moment, mate. What are you doing?"

"I thought you might be in trouble." The Doctor explained.

"Thanks. Well, if I ever am, you can come and save me with my toothbrush." Craig laughed.

The Doctor's ego looked a bit deflated, I patted him on the shoulder in a reassuring way. Craig left us to answer the phone that was ringing in the other room.

"Do you think we could..." I started, meeting the Doctor's eyes.

"A little peak couldn't hurt..." He grinned. I took hold of his hand and we started up the stairs. We were only a few steps up before a noise behind us made us turn around.

"Oh! Hello." A blonde girl said. She was the same girl from the picture on the fridge.

"Ah! Hello. The Doctor."

"Ester, nice to meet you."

"Right." She nodded. We ran back down the stairs, meeting her on the landing.

"You must be Sophie." The Doctor said, giving he'd air kisses like he did with Craig.

"Oh. Oh." Sophie said, flustered.

"No, Dom's in Malta." Craig said when we walked into the room. "There's nobody around. Hang on a sec. We've got a match today, pub league. We're one down if you fancy it?" He offered to the Doctor.

"Pub league. A drinking competition?"

"Oh that might not be the best idea, this one and alcohol don't mix to nicely... I have a hard enough time keeping up with him when he's sober." I shook my head at this idea.

"No, football." Craig corrected. "Play football?"

"Football. Football. Yes, blokes play football. I'm good at football, I think."

I wondered how it would go; the only athletic things I've seen him do is run and play cricket, the later being several regenerations ago....

"You've saved my life. I've got somebody. Yeah, all right, I'll see you down there. Hey, Soph."

"Hey, I thought I'd come early and meet your new flat mates."

"Do you play, Sophie?" I asked, sitting down next to her on the sofa.

"No, Soph just stands on the sidelines. She's my mascot." Craig explained.

"I'm your mascot? Mascot?"

"Well, yeah, not my mascot. It's a football match. I can't take a date."

"I didn't say I was your date."

"Neither did I."

I sat there awkwardly, sensing the tension between the two of them.

"Better get dressed." The Doctor said.

"The spare kit's just in the bottom drawer." Craig instructed.

"I'll join you." I said, wanting to get away from the awkwardness of the situation.

I sat in a chair, facing the wall while the Doctor got changed.

"Do you see any extra shirts in there?" I asked, needing something else to change into.

"There are some in here, but their all much to big for you." The Doctor said.

"Are you decent?"

"Yeah."

I turned around, not facing the wall any longer. I saw that he was dressed in a red uniform, but he had the shirt on backwards. "You have that on wrong." I said, but he just shrugged and kept it on like that, causing me to laugh. I looked through the dresser and found a small (compared to the rest of the shirts) shirt. It was a simple black tee shirt, but it was better than the sweaty, gross one I had on from when I ran away with the other Doctor. I held it up to see how long it would be and it went well to my thighs. ' _I could always tuck it in_.' I thought. "Face the wall." I said to the Doctor. He did, and I faced the wall opposite of him, so our backs were facing each other. I quickly switched shirts and I tucked the new one into my black jeans. "You can turn around now." I said once I had finished.

"Try to get a hold of Amy," the Doctor instructed. I nodded, pushing a little button the was in my ear pod. "You might want to grab your sonic from the bathroom!" I called to him as he left our room.

"How'd you know that?" He asked from the hall.

"You used a toothbrush, obviously the sonic was in there and you grabbed the wrong thing."

He poked his head back in the door. "You know sometimes, you know more about me than I do."

"Well, isn't that my job as best friend?" I questioned. I noticed his eyes grew slightly sadder when I said that, but I shrugged it off. I returned to my task of getting Amy on the pod, and soon I had her connected.

"So, we're going out. If we hang about the house all the time, him upstairs might get suspicious and notice us," the Doctor explained.

"Football. Okay, well done. That is normal," Amy approved.

"Yeah, football. All outdoorsy."

"I just hope I don't get sunburnt..." I sighed, trying to find a pair of sunglasses in this room. "You know, I really do miss that endless wardrobe right now..."

"Now, football's the one with the sticks, isn't it?" The Doctor asked, causing Amy to sigh.

***

"What are you actually called? What's your proper name?" Craig asked the Doctor once we had gotten to the park.

"Just call me the Doctor."

"Everyone does," I added.

"Yeah..." Sophie added, unsure of us still.

"I can't go up to these guys and say hey, this is my new flat mates, he's called the Doctor, and that's his wife Ester," Craig argued.

"Why not?" The Doctor asked.

"Because it's weird," Craig explained.

"Well, how do you think I do it? I just go up and say 'I'm Ester, and this is my be- husband, the Doctor.'" I explained, catching my word slip.

We got to the pitch and were met with a bunch of guys in the same suits as Craig and the Doctor.

"All right, Craig. Soph. All right, mate." A man greeted us.

Hello, I'm Craig's new flat mate. I'm called the Doctor, and this is my beautiful wife Ester." The Doctor said, causing me to blush a bright red. The a Doctor proceeded to give the man air kisses; the man didn't like them too much...

"All right, Doctor. I'm Sean. So, where are you strongest?" Sean asked.

"Arms." The Doctor said.

"No, he means what position on the field." Explained Craig.

"Not sure. The front? The side? Below." The Doctor offered.

"Off." I muttered, loud enough for the Doctor to hear. He glared at me, and I gave him a tongue-in-teeth smile that I picked up from Rose all those years back.

"Are you any good though?" Sean asked.

"Let's find out." The Doctor said.

***

"Go Doctor!" I cheered as he started towards the opposing team's goal.

The game had been going on for a while, and it was clear the Doctor was good at football, surprisingly.

"Yeah, we're going to win." A woman standing next to me and Sophie said after the Doctor scored again. Who would have thought a man so clumsy and lanky would be good at a sport like this?

"Good job Doc!" I yelled, cheering along with the rest of the crowd. His eyes met mine, and he gave me a big thumbs up and a grin, I couldn't help but smile at this.

"Ester, TARDIS to Ester." I heard Amy's voice come through my ear pod. I quickly slipped away from the game, telling Sophie that I had to use the bathroom.

"Yeah Amy?" I asked, once I had gotten away from the crowd.

"How's the match going? Doctor break anything yet?" She asked, I could hear the smile in her voice.

"No, quiet the opposite actually." I started. "He's actually pretty good at the game. He's the top scorer so far." As I said this, the crowd roared to life again. "I think he just scored again!"

"Okay, did not expect that." Amy said. "So, how's he look?"

"What?" I exclaimed, choking on air.

"The Doctor, how's he looking?" She had a smug tone in her voice.

"Amy, you do know that I am from a totally different time then the Ester that you know and therefore-"

"Stop deflecting." Amy groaned, cutting me off.

"I was not  _deflecting_!"

"Yes, you were." She argued. "You started rambling, just like he does. you two aren't that different, you know. Now answer the question."

"He looks like he normally does." I said, trying to answer the question without really saying anything.

"And that is..." Amy pushed.

"Him, he looks like him."

"Ester." Amy said, I could hear the smirk on her voice.

"What, that's what he looks like." I defended. I actually thought about it for a while. The Doctor didn't look too bad actually... Wait, no, this is my best friend, we've known each other since we were eight! He just happened too look very fine right then...

"So you admit it!" Amy screeched.

"What!?" I shrieked, my face going red.

"You fancy him! And don't deny it! You just said he looked fine!"

My eyes went wide. Did I really say that out loud?

"Yes, yes you did." Any said in a smug tone. "And I can practically hear your blush." The crowd cheered again,the Doctor just scored again.

"Amelia Pond." I groaned.

"Love you too Ester." She laughed. "Talk to you later, go back and watch that boy." I groaned again and heard the ear pod switch off.

I walked back to the crowd, where the spectators were chanting the Doctor's name. I smiled and joined in with them. The Doctor met my eyes again and we shared a grin.

"Some catch you've got there." Sophie said from next to me.

I thought about that statement for a while before answering. Even if he was just my best friend, he really was special, and I was overly lucky to have him in my life. "Yeah, he is, isn't he?"

***

"Yeah! Great job Doctor!" I cheered when the Doctor scored the final goal of the game. I was jumping up and down clapping, really happy for him. Once the player started to leave the field, the Doctor ran over to me. I opened my arms, expecting a hug, and he picked me up off the ground, spinning me a few times.

"I did it! Did you see me?" He asked, acting like an overexcited seven year old.

"Yes, you were fantastic." I smiled.

The Doctor looked at me with absolute joy on his face. I was still in his arms, and several inches off the ground. His face was oddly close to mine, and I want sure if this was true, but his face seemed to be getting closer the longer he looked into my eyes. With out any warning, the Doctor closed his eyes, and his lips were on mine.

My mind was a battle ground.

A good part of me was shocked, unsure why he thought to do anything remotely like this. Another part of me protested, yelling at me to pull away, that this was my best friend, and that it shouldn't be happening. But then came the third part of my mind. The part of me that really, really,  _really_ , liked what was happening. The part of me that  _wanted_  to respond to his kiss. The part of me that didn't want it to end.

And that part must have come from some deep, dark, unseen section of my mind that has never seen the light of day; because I had absolutely no idea where it came from.

As quickly as it had started, it was over and I was standing back on my own two feet, and the Doctor had run off to talk to someone.

"Wha..." I stuttered, completely unsure what I just went though, and why the Doctor had just brushed it off like it had happened hundreds of times before.

"You are so on the team. Next week we've got the Crown and Anchor. We're going to annihilate them." I overheard Sean say to the Doctor.

"Annihilate?" The Doctor exclaimed. I decided it would be best if I got over to him quickly, before things got out of hand. I went over as fast as I could, still in my daze-like state. "No. No violence, do you understand me? Not while I'm around. Not today, not ever. I'm the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm!" He paused when I got over to them; a look of realization swept over his face. "And you basically meant beat them in a football match, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Sean said, looking very confused.

"Lovely. What sort of time?" The Doctor asked, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

Our attention was drawn to the repeating screen of Craig opening a can and getting sprayed. I looked around, my mind set switching from dazed to 'time to get stuff done' like second nature. I liked around, and  _everything_  was like it was set on repeat. The Doctor and I met gazes and we bolted off running.

"Amy?" We asked into our respective ear pods.

"It's happening again." Amy exclaimed over the sound of the TARDIS. "Worse."

"What does the scanner say?" I asked.

"A lot of nines. Is it good that they're nines?" She asked. "Tell me it's good that they're all nines." She begged. The Doctor and I shared a nervous look.

"Yes, yes, it's, it's good." He lied. "Zigzag plotter. Zigzag plotter, Amy."

There was a loud bang, followed by a scream from Amy.

"Amy?" I exclaimed. "Are you alright?" There was no reply and I instantly thought the worse.

"Amy?" The Doctor asked.

"Yes. Hello." Amy said. I let out my breath that I wasn't aware I was holding in.

"Oh, thank heavens. I thought for a moment the TARDIS had been flung off into the vortex with you inside it, lost forever." The Doctor sighed.

"What, you mean that could actually happen?" Any asked, her voice going up a few octaves.

"No, of course not." I lied, trying to keep her calm.

"You lot have got to get me out of here." She exclaimed.

"We're trying our best here, Amy!" I exclaimed. The Doctor took my hand in his, trying to calm me down.

"How are the numbers?" He asked.

"All fives." She said, I looked around us and saw that the time loop had stopped.

"Fives? Even better. Still, it means the effect's almost unbelievably powerful and dangerous, but don't worry."

"Hang on, okay?" I said.

"Hey." Amy protested, trying to keep us on the line.

"We've got some rewiring to do."

***

"Ester, pass me that bike wheel, will you?" The Doctor asked as we worked on our contraption.

"Sure, here." I said, rolling the lone tire over to him. I was feeling conflicted. Part of me wanted to ask him about what happened with us earlier, but another part didn't want to have an awkward feel between us. I decided it best that I just pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind and focus on the task at hand.

Just as I was attaching some cord to our machine, Craig knocked on our door. The Doctor answered it with a traffic cone in his hand. "Hello, flat mate."

"Hey, man. Er, listen. Er, Sophie's coming round tonight and I was wondering if you could give us some space?"

"Oh, don't mind us." The Doctor said. "You won't even know we're here."

There was another bang from upstairs, and I stepped away from the machine, hoping it would work like we expected it to.

"That's the idea." I heard the Doctor say. I looked at the clock by the bed, and saw that it was still ticking at a normal speed.

"Doctor, get in here!" I exclaimed, excited that it was actually working.

The Doctor came back into the room, shitting the door behind him. "Yes, perfect! What a beauty!" He exclaimed, looking like an excited seven year old.

***

"Could you quit the pacing?" I asked from my spot on the floor. I flipped to the next page the book I was reading. "You're about to wear a hole in the carpet."

"Do you think I could just..." He suggested, wanting to get out of the room.

"Just sit and tinker, isn't that what you do any way?" I asked.

"But there  _something_  going on here Ester!" He exclaimed, flopping on his back.

"And whose fault is that?  _You're_  the one that said you would stay up here all night. You promised Craig." I said, looking at him over the pages of my book.

"But Ester..." He groaned, looking at me with puppy dog eyes.

"Call Amy, she'll talk your ear off until you can go down." I suggested. He groaned again. "Are you going to keep pestering me about this until I let you go?" He gave me a small smile. I sighed, choosing not to fight this battle. "Fine, but Craig asks, I'm asleep." I sighed. The Doctor was out of the room in three seconds flat.

***

"Right. Shield's up. Let's scan." The Doctor said later that night. It's a good thing that we only need a few hours of sleep. The Doctor started spinning our contraption.

"What are you getting?" Amy asked.

"Upstairs. No traces of high technology. Totally normal?" The Doctor questioned. I looked at the machine as well.

"No, no, no, no, no, it can't be. It's too normal." I said in shock. "What ever it is up there, it is anything but normal."

"How is that a problem? Only for you two could too normal be a problem. You said I could be lost forever. Just go upstairs." Amy argued.

"Without knowing and get ourselves killed?" The Doctor argued. "Then you really are lost. If I could just get a look in there... Hold on. Use the data bank. Get me the plans of this building. I want to know its history, the layout, everything. Meanwhile, I shall recruit a spy."

"What?" I questioned.

"A spy." He repeated.

I stared at him for a while, trying to make some sense out him. Needless to say, it didn't work.

***

"Can you see if there is any more eggs in the fridge?" I asked the Doctor as I washed a pan. Craig had slept in this morning, and I thought it would be nice if I made him some breakfast. "Thank you." I said when the Doctor passed me the carton.

He sat back down, and started reading the paper. It was odd seeing him do something so... Domestic. The last version of him I saw was a war beaten man who wanted nothing to do with domestication, and here before me sat a man that seemed to adapt fairly well to the idea. Granted, I didn't know how far into his time line I was; and I knew several years in itself could be more than enough to change a man.

"Do you want to take the food in to him; I'll get started on our breakfast." I suggested, breaking the silence. I put the food on a carrying tray along with a glass of juice. The Doctor took the tray into Craig's room, and I started working on breakfast for the Doctor and I. I got lost in the simplicity of the domestic task at hand, and couldn't help but zone out.

"Ester!" The Doctor yelled, running towards me, successfully snapping me out of my thoughts.

"What are you doing?" I exclaimed, jumping out of the way.

"Craig touched the dark stuff." He explained. "He's poisoned, help me fix tea." He ordered.

"Oh my God." I gasped, quickly running about trying to find the needed tea.

"Right, reverse the enzyme decay." The Doctor said, grabbing a tea pot with some water.

"Excite the tannin molecules." I finished, stuffing ten or so tea bags in the pot.

We ran into Craig's room and managed to get him to drink it.

"I've got to go to work." Craig said quietly in between drinks.

"Nonsense." I disagreed.

"On no account. You need rest. One more." The Doctor said.

"It's the planning meeting. It's important." Craig protested.

"You're important." The Doctor said. "You're going to be fine, Craig."

***

"You coming?" The Doctor asked, fixing his bow tie in the mirror of our room.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Craig's work, I'm going to fill in for him." He explained.

"You, working at a job?" I scoffed. "You can't sit still for more than ten minutes, how are you going to sit at a desk for eight hours?"

"I can do it!" He protested, looking offended. "Anyway, are you coming or not?"

"No, I'll stay here and hold the fort down." I said. "Someone needs to look after Craig, make sure he doesn't touch that wall again."

"Alright then, I'll see you after work." The Doctor said awkwardly with a grin on his face. He gave me a hug, and left the flat, going to work.

"Gosh, what am I supposed to do for eight hours..." I sighed, slumping on a couch in the living room.

I turned on the Telly and watched the news for a bit, until I started getting angry about how stupid the people on there were. "He's obviously an alien! That's how he got better so quickly!" I exclaimed, turning off the box and storming off into the kitchen.

It was a mess, pans piled in the sink and food sitting on the counter. I started washing up and putting the food away, then I noticed the floor was dirty, so I mopped the floor. Once the kitchen was spotless, I noticed how dingy the living room looked, so I cleaned that too.

"Hey Jude, don't make it bad, take a sad song, and make it better." I sung as I put the vacuum away in the closet, finally finished with cleaning every sinks surface in the entire flat. I went into our room and slumped on what small bit of the bed wasn't taken up by the contraption. I looked at the alarm clock to see that only a few hours had passed.

I decided it would be a good idea to call Amy. "Earth to Pond. Come in Pond." I said into the ear pod.

"Ester!" Amy said rather excited.

"How's the TARDIS?" I asked.

"Pretty good won't let me get rid of the bunk bed in my room, but she hasn't gone crazy in a while." Amy explained.

"Great, that's great." I said, absentmindedly. Apparently Amy had picked up on this.

"You alright?"

"Yeah... I'm fine, just a lot on my mind. With the TARDIS gone and all..."

"Ester, cut the act right now." Amy ordered. "Now, I know you've just met me recently, but the future version of you, the one I know, is my best friend, and I can tell when something is bothering you." She said. "As much as you may think otherwise, you don't change that drastically in your future. So tell me, what is it; really."

I sighed, knowing I wasn't going to be able to win this. "The Doctor kissed me..." I mumbled.

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" She exclaimed.

"Amy! He's my best friend! We aren't supposed to kiss!" I protested.

"Have you talked to him about it?" She questioned.

"No... I don't want things to be awkward between us..."

"Are they?"

"Well... Yes... Yes they are." I said after thinking about it for a while. We haven't really had much of a conversation since the incident, well, not any conversations like we would normally have. "It's just been a lot of small talk." I sighed.

"Did you like it?" She asked.

"Like what?"

"The kiss!" She exclaimed. "For a seemingly genius Time Lord, you're really draft."

"Hey!" I exclaimed. "Amelia Pond I will have you know that I, in fact,  _am_  a genius and-"

"Just answer the damn question Ester." Amy sighed.

"Fine." I huffed. "I liked it... But I really shouldn't have..."

"Why not? Seems like a perfectly normal response." Amy pondered.

"Because he's my best friend!" I exclaimed. "What if we mess it up? I've known that man since he was eight, I'm 542 years old, and I've known him for a good majority of those years. We're all we have left, everyone else is gone..." I said, my once strong tone wavering and getting softer. "I'm not sure if you know this or not, but we lost everything. Our families, friends, planet; everything we ever had, aside from each other and the TARDIS, is gone forever." I whispered, tears stinging my eyes. "I'm not going to put him on the line, just for the sake of my feelings. I'm not that selfish." I decided.

After some silence between the two of us, Amy spoke up. "You should talk to him." She said. "If you really feel like that; if he's that important to you, tell him."

I sighed. "I'll think about it." I was going to continue, but the sound of the door opening and Craig's voice filled the flat.

"And everybody loves you, and you're better at football than me, and my job, and now Sophie's all oh, monkeys, monkeys!" The voice said, getting closer and closer. "And then there's that!" Craig said, he pointed a finger towards me... Or the machine... Either one could have worked.

"Gotta go Amy." I said, turning off the ear pod, despite her protests.

"It's art." The Doctor explained, now in the room as well. "A statement on modern society, Ooo, ain't modern society awful."

"It really is, none of the class that it used to have." I said offhandedly.

"Me and you two, it's not going to work out. You've only been here three days. These have been the three weirdest days of my life."Craig said

"Isn't that a good thing?" I asked. "I know I'd take weird over dull and boring any day."

"Your days will get a lot weirder if we go." The Doctor defended.

"It was good weirdness. It's not, it's bad weird. I can't do this any more." Craig said, I looked at him with a puzzled look.

"Craig, we can't leave this place. we're like you, We can't see the point of anywhere else. Madrid? Ha, what a dump. We have to stay." The Doctor said, coming up with an excuse.

"No, you don't. You have to leave."

"Please Craig." I begged.

"We can't go."

"Just get out!" Craig yelled.

"Right. Only way. I'm going to show you something, but shush. Really, shush. Oh, I am going to regret this. Okay, right. First, general background." My eyes widened, realizing what he was going to do. The Doctor rammed his head into Craig's, and I winced in pain. I assumed it must have been a sympathy pain, considering I wasn't hit. I went over to the Doctor and rubbed my hand on his back, trying to sooth his pain.

"Argh." Craig groaned. His eyes glazed over, and soon, a look of realization appeared on his face. "Oh." He said in awe, looking at me and the Doctor.

"Ow." The Doctor groaned.

"You're a-"

"Yes." The Doctor said in pain.

"From-"

"Shush." I said.

"You've got a TARDIS!"

"Yes. Shush. Eleventh." The Doctor said, motioning to his face. "She's on her fourth."

"I'm much more responsible than him." I snickered.

"Right. Okay, specific detail." The Doctor said, slamming his head with Craig's again. My head flared up in pain again.

"Argh." The three of us groaned.

"You saw my ad in the paper." Craig said, still amazed.

"Yes, with this right above it. Which is odd, because Amy hasn't written it yet." I said, showing him the note Amy had written on the newspaper.

"Time travel. It can happen." The Doctor added.

"That's a scanner." Craig said, pointing to our gizmo. "You used non-technological technology of Lammasteen!"

"Shut up!" Me and the Doctor yelled, covering Craig's mouth. I didn't even want to being to think about what could happen if the thing upstairs started hearing all this alien terminology.

"Argh." Came Craig's muffled cry.

"I am never, never doing that ever, ever again." The Doctor said to me.

"Agreed, especially when we have an unknown above us." I said quietly. The Doctor activated his ear pod after releasing Craig, and I followed suit.

"Amy." The Doctor called.

"That's Amy Pond." Craig said, still in awe.

"Oh, of course, you can understand us now." The Doctor said.

"Hurrah." I said sarcastically. "Got those plans yet Amy?"

"Still searching for them." She said.

"I've worked it out, with psychic help from a cat."

"What?" I asked, looking at him with a confused look on my face.

"A cat?" Amy questioned.

"I told you not to use the cat." I scolded him.

"Oh well. I know he's got a time engine in the flat upstairs. He's using innocent people to try and launch it. Whenever he does, they get burnt up, hence the stain on your ceiling."

"Oh my God..." I said, trailing off. "They're trying to make a TARDIS by killing innocent people." I said, disgusted.

"From the ceiling." Craig said.

"Well done, Craig." I said, patting him on the back.

"And you, Miss Pond, nearly get thrown off into the Vortex." The Doctor finished.

"Lovely." Amy said. Suddenly, a crash came from above our heads .

"People are dying up there? People are dying. People are dying. People are dying." Craig repeated. The TARDIS went haywire again, and it was a few minutes before it calmed down again.

"Amy." I checked, making sure she was alright.

"They're being killed!" Craig exclaimed.

"Someone's up there." The Doctor said, we looked up above us, then at each other. I bit the inside of my mouth, a nervous habit I had picked up a while back.

"Doctor?" Amy asked.

"Hang on." The Doctor said. "Ester, Craig, come on. Someone's dying up there." The Doctor took my hand, and we ran down the hall. We were almost about to go up the stairs when Craig cried out.

"Sophie. It's Sophie that's dying up there! It's Sophie!"

My hearts started racing and I felt like I was running on pure adrenaline. I would not let another innocent person die, let alone her.

"Doctor! Ester! Argh!" Amy yelled as we ran up the steps.

"Where's Sophie?" Craig asked when we got to the door at the top of the steps.

"Wait, wait." The Doctor said, squeezing my hand. "Amy?"

"Are you upstairs?" Amy asked.

"Just about to go in." I said.

"But you can't be upstairs." Amy said.

"Of course we can be upstairs." The Doctor said.

"All we had to do was walk up here. Not that hard if you think about it; could've been much worse..." I babbled.

"No, I've got the plans. You cannot be upstairs, it's a one-story building." Amy said.

"But that means..." I trailed, eyes widening and my grip on the Doctor's hand tightening.

"There is no upstairs." Amy finished.

The Doctor and I shared a look, and knowing fully well that this wasn't a good idea, we opened the door, and walked into the Timeship that had been hidden about Craig's flat.

"What? What?" Craig asked, looking around at all the alien technology.

"Oh. Oh, of course. The time engine isn't in the flat, the time engine is the flat. You were right, Ester, someone is trying to build a TARDIS." The Doctor said. I would have been lying if I said I wasn't nervous; who ever was smart enough to figure out how to build their own TARDIS, and ruthless enough to kill innocent people to try to make it work, was no one to take lightly.

"No, there's always been an upstairs." Craig argued. I noticed something from behind me and the door we had just walked through had begun to flicker on and off.

"Has there? Think about it." The Doctor questioned, looking at the door as well.

"Yes. No. I don't-"

"Perception filter. It's more than a disguise. It tricks your memory. All TARDIS's have them, or else people would question why there's a big blue police box in the middle of colonial America." I explained.

There was a feminine scream.

"Sophie! Sophie! Oh, my God, Sophie!" Craig yelled. We saw her across the make shift TARDIS, being pulled closer to the center to the console unit by her hand.

"Craig." Sophie cried, seeing the three of us. A look of hope washes over her face as we ran towards her.

"It's controlling her. It's willing her to touch the activator. And as soon as it she touches it, she'll end up just like the other people that have been up here.

"That's not going to have her." Craig decided. The Doctor went up to the console and pointed his sonic screwdriver at her hands.

"Ah, deadlock seal." The Doctor sighed, putting his sonics away.

"You've got to do something." Craig pleaded.

"Don't worry, we will." I said, knowing fully well that I might not be able to keep that promise. Suddenly, the machine released Sophie. "What?" I asked, shocked, looking at the Doctor.

"What? Why's it let her go? So, okay..." The Doctor said, utterly confused.

"You will help me." A man said from behind us, appearing out of thin air.

"Right. Stop. Crashed ship, let's see..." The Doctor trailed. "Hello, I'm Captain Troy Handsome of International Rescue."

"And I'm Co Captain, Gabrielle Gorgeous. Please state the nature of your emergency." I said in a consultant's tone.

"The ship has crashed. The crew are dead. A pilot is required." The Autopilot explained.

"You're the emergency crash program. A hologram. What, you've been luring people up here so you can try them out?" The Doctor asked.

"You couldn't have just flown the empty ship home? You obviously have an Autopilot." I said, not understanding its logic. The hologram man flickered between an old man, a girl, and it's pervious state.

"You will help me. You will help me. You will help me." The Autopilot repeated.

"Craig, what is this? Where am I?" Sophie asked, coming to her senses.

"Hush. Human brains aren't strong enough, they just burn. But you're stupid, though. You just keep trying." I said to the Autopilot.

"Seventeen people have been tried. Six billion four hundred thousand and twenty six remain." The Autopilot said, making my blood boil.

"You've killed seventeen innocent people to fly your stupid ship back. Isn't that enough? Who ever made you probably has a back up by now. You're a crashed ship, with no crew; you're worthless! What's the point of killing people who have their entire life going for them?" I exclaimed, I could feel my face going red from anger. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and turned my head to see the Doctor's calming sea green eyes. My pulse started slowing down.

"Seriously, what is going on?" Sophie said, her voice shaking.

"Oh, for goodness sake. The top floor of Craig's building is in reality an alien space ship intent on slaughtering the population of this planet." The Doctor explained.

"Any questions?" I asked.

"No, good." The Doctor said before Sophie had a chance to open her mouth.

"Yes, I have questions." Sophie protested.

"We've got other important matters at hand, Sophie." I said, shutting her up.

"The correct pilots have now been found." The Autopilot said, I felt a ten ton weight weigh down both of my hearts.

"Yes, I was a bit worried that you were going to say that." The Doctor said, sucking in a breath.

"I guess you assume two are better than one?" I asked, uneasily.

"He means you two, Doctor, Ester, doesn't he?" Amy asked through our ear pieces.

Two bolts of energy shot out of the console and dragged the Doctor and I to the unit by our hands.

"The correct pilots have been found. The correct pilots have been found. The correct pilots have been found." The Autopilot chanted.

"What's happening?" Amy asked, her voice going up an octave.

"It's pulling us in. We're the new pilots." The Doctor said.

"I am so sorry Amy." I groaned, trying to pull my hand back from the energy.

"Could you do it? Could you fly the ship safely?" Amy asked.

"No, one of us is way too much for this ship, let alone the two of us together. A hand touches that panel, the planet doesn't blow up, the whole solar system dose." The Doctor explained, voicing the worries that were running through my mind.

"And that's if we're lucky, the explosion could potentially take out the entire Milky Way Galaxy." I added.

"The correct pilots have been found."

"No. Worst choice ever, I promise you. Stop this." The Doctor begged.

"Seriously, terrible, terrible idea. The man can't even fly his own ship, never passed his test. And he's had it for centuries." I added, trying to convince the machine to at least let him go. That alone will have the inevitable damage report drop drastically.

"Doctor? It's getting worse." Amy said, the TARDIS continuing to make noise.

"Have you tried singing to her? She really enjoys Defying Gravity from Wicked." I said, trying to lighten the situation.

"It doesn't want everyone. Craig, it didn't want you." The Doctor told Craig.

"I spoke to him and he said I couldn't help him." Craig countered.

"It didn't want Sophie before but now it does. What's changed? Argh. No. No, I gave her the idea of leaving. It's a machine that needs to leave. It wants people who want to escape. And you don't want to leave, Craig. You're Mister Sofa Man." The Doctor realized.

"Doctor!" Amy cried.

"Craig, you can shut down the engine. Put your hand on the panel and concentrate on why you want to stay." The Doctor groaned.

"Craig, no." Sophie protested.

"Will it work?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Of course it will."

"Are you sure?" Craig asked.

"Yes."

"Of course I am."

"Is that a lie?"

"Of course it's a lie." I exclaimed.

"It's good enough for me. Geronimo! Argh!" Craig yelled as he put his hand on the console. As soon as he did, the Doctor and I were released from the energy.

"Craig!" Sophie yelled.

"Ester!" Amy yelled. Smoke started coming off Craig's hand and I caught my breath from fighting off that strong of an energy force for so long.

"Craig, what's keeping you here? Think about everything that makes you want to stay here. Why don't you want to leave?" The Doctor interrogated him.

"Sophie. I don't want to leave Sophie. I can't leave Sophie. I love Sophie." Craig gasped.

"I love you, too, Craig, you idiot." Sophie said, looking into his eyes as she placed her hand in top of Craig's.

"Doctor! Ester!"

"Honestly, do you mean that?" Craig asked, his face lighting up.

"Of course I mean it. Do you mean it?"

"I've always meant it. Seriously though, do you mean it?"

"Yes."

"Ugh." Amy said sounding disgusted at all the lovey dovey stuff.

"What about the monkeys?" Craig asked.

"Oh, not now, not again. Craig, the planet's about to burn. For God's sake, kiss the girl!"

"Kiss the girl!" I exclaimed.

"Kiss the girl!" Amy yelled.

Craig and Sophie start kissing, and Craig's hand was released from the console. I listened into the ear pod and the extra noise from the TARDIS had soothed down into its normal humming.

"Doctor? Ester? You've done it. Ha ha! You've done it. Oh, now the screen's just zeros. Now it's minus ones, minus twos, minus threes. Big yes." Amy exclaimed, giddy.

"Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me." The Autopilot cried.

"Do you think we're stupid?" I questioned.

"Big no." The Doctor added.

"Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me."

"Did we switch it off?" Craig asked, once he and Sophie finally came up for air.

"Emergency shutdown. It's imploding. Everybody out, out, out!" The Doctor and I said together.

"Run?" I asked the Doctor with a smirk.

"Run." He grinned, takings hold of my hand.

"Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me Help me. Help me. Help me."

"Doctor? Ester? Hello! Will someone answer me?" Amy yelled from the ear pod, more annoyed than anything.

"Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me." The Autopilot continued to cry as the four of us ran out of the ship, down the stairs, outside, and across the street. The perception filter switched off for the four of us and the roof turned into the Timeship. It flew off, leaving Craig's house as it should be, a single story house.

"Look at them." Craig said, pointing at a man and child walking past the house. "Didn't they see that? The whole top floor just vanished."

"Perception filter. There never was a top floor." The Doctor explained.

"That's why you never questioned why your flat turned into a two story house one day, you either don't notice it, or accept it." I added.

"Everything should be normal now." The Doctor said.

I noticed the way Sophie and Craig were looking at each other, and decided it would be a good idea to leave them alone for a while. "Hey, let's go and find the TARDIS, yeah?" I asked the Doctor.

"Hm, oh, yes, yes. Must go find the ruddy ship, always... Disappearing." The Doctor said awkwardly. We nodded awkwardly at the two of them, and started walking down the street.

***

"You know, you left your physic paper in our room, right." I told the Doctor, once we were finally back in the TARDIS.

"No I didn't." He scoffed, checking all of his pockets.

"Really, you sure?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. The Doctor stopped checking his pockets and begun flying the TARDIS. Amy started laughing.

"Left it?" Amy asked.

"Just going to pop in... Only a minute..." The Doctor said, his face going red. He landed the TARDIS and he went outside to get the physic paper.

"You gonna go with him?" Amy asked, sitting down next to me on the jump seat.

"He's a big boy, he can take care of himself." I said.

"Can he?" She questioned, a smug look on her face. The thought alone was enough to have me on my feet and heading towards the TARDIS doors. Amy started laughing and I was out of there before Amy could make a smart remark.

I ran across the street, meeting up with the Doctor before he entered the house. "You followed?" The Doctor questioned.

"Yeah, just making sure I didn't leave anything." I said, looping my arm with his. We quietly walked into the flat, careful not to disturb the couple in the living room. Once in the room, the Doctor quickly grabbed the physic paper from the night stand, and I did a quick look around to make sure nothing of either of our's was left. "I'm gonna miss this place." I sighed, sitting on the edge of the now cleared bed.

"Miss the place, or miss sharing a room with me?" The Doctor asked, a smirk on his face and his eyebrows shooting up.

"Where did you get that idea?" I questioned, my voice going up an octave an my face going hot. "I haven't the slightest idea how it got into that thick head of your's." I scoffed, trying to switch the conversation up.

"Oi!"

"Come on, let's go." I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the room. My face was still bright red when we left our set of keys on the sideboard by the front door. We opened the door, about to leave, when a voice stopped us.

"Oi." Craig said from the living room.

"What, you're trying to sneak off?" Sophie asked.

"Yes, well, you were sort of busy." The Doctor explained as they walked towards us.

"Neither of you looked like you could talk; your mouths seemed... Preoccupied..." I added.

"I want you to keep these." Craig said, giving the Doctor our set of keys.

"Thank you. Because we might pop back soon, have another little stay." The Doctor lied.

"Yeah, going everywhere in the universe gets old sometimes." I added. "We'll probably be back." I smiled, going along with the Doctor.

"No, you won't. I've been in your head, remember. I still want you to keep them." Craig said, a small smile on his face.

"Thank you, Craig." The Doctor smiled.

"Really, thank you." I said, pulling him in for a hug.

"Thank you, Ester, Doctor." Craig smiled.

"Sophie." The Doctor nodded. "Now then. Six billion four hundred thousand and twenty six people in the world. That's the number to beat." The Doctor said with a smirk.

"Have a good life, you two." I winked.

"Yeah." Sophie said, going red in the face.

"Good bye." I said as the Doctor and I walked out of the flat, hand-in-hand.

"Back in time. You need to go to the paper shop and leave that note for me and Ester." The Doctor said once we walked into the TARDIS. The two of us started fiddling with the controls, landing the TARDIS in the correct time period.

"Right little matchmaker, aren't you?" Amy said. "Can't you find me a fellow?" She asked the Doctor.

"Oh, rectifier's playing up again Hold on." The Doctor said, changing the subject and running out of the console room to grab a tool. "You write the note and I'll change that, Ester, come here!" He added, calling me from the hall. I debated on going, but then I heard a crash and left for finding him with a sigh.

"You got a pen?" Amy asked me before I left the room.

"Not on me, no." I said after I checked my pockets. "He probably has some in his pockets." I said, motioning to the Doctor's coat on the guard rail.

"Make sure it's a red pen!" The Doctor yelled. There was another crash from the supply room and I started moving quicker.


	5. Supply Room Chats

"What the hell did you do to this room?" I questioned, looking at the supply room with wide eyes. The once organized room looked like a bomb had gone off. There were bits of this here, and tools there, and in the corner was what looked like half of an uneaten sandwich that had been left there to sit for sometime.

"Well... you see..." The Doctor trailed off.

"I spent  _how_  long organizing this place?" I questioned, my voice deadly calm. The Doctor mumbled a response. "How long?" I questioned. If looks could kill, this man would have been way past his regeneration limit.

"Five weeks." He muttered, looking down at his boots.

"And how long did it take you to do this to it?" I added, staring him down.

"Now Ester, you must understand, really, when it happened, it was all in the best intentions. I really wish I could tell you what happened, but it's still in your future and you know as well as I do those type of things end up rather dodgy when a person finds out about different parts of their time stream-"

"Doctor."

"Yes?" He said, meeting my eyes for the first time. He brought his hands together and looked at me with wide eyes.

"How long?" I asked again.

He gulped. "Well... How long does it take for the TARDIS to fall out of the sky and crash into a shed and land on it's side?"

 _"You did what_?" I exclaimed. " _How_?"

"Like I said." He said quickly. "Your future, timey whimey stuff; just know that it was pretty cool." He said with a grin.

Now that was taking a low shot; he knew I couldn't stay mad at him for long when he looked at me like that. His eyes had a spark of joy in them, and he reminded me of a young boy, not the thousand year old man that really was inside.

"You're helping me clean this up." I decided, crossing my arms over my chest.

"That's fair." The Doctor started. "Just after-"

"Nope, now." I said, crouching down to put some similar looking in bits in the same box. The Doctor was about to protest when he sighed and started organizing as well.

We worked quietly for a little, the only sounds in the small room coming from the items bumping against each other in the contained we were putting them in.

"So is this how it is?" I questioned, breaking the silence between us.

"How what is?" He questioned.

"This." I said motioning at the two of us. "I mean, do I just keep running into different versions of you? In the flat you told Craig that this was you're eleventh regeneration, and I assume you're not counting... Well... You know... So that means the one I was just with was your ninth, and I haven't met your tenth. And when I first met this version of you, you asked where I just was, like it was normal that I pop in at random times and with different versions of me." I said, meeting his eyes. "So is that what I do? Just pop in for different adventures? Do I ever just stick around?" I asked.

He let out a sigh. "There are times." He started, leaning against a shelving unit. "Were you stay for a decent amount of time. But for the most part, you sort of jump around. So far, I've had several trips in which the same version of you was at my side; but they've all been further along in your time stream."

"How do we keep track?" I asked. "If we're both running on different time streams, then how do we know if one person knows something about the future of someone or something?"

"Your journal." He explained. "I have one like it, we write down the adventure we go on, and when we meet up, we try to figure out where the other one is in their time line based on the entries." He continued. "Obviously you can't look in my journal, and I can't look in yours, spoilers and all." He said with a smirk, as if he was thinking of someone.

"Doesn't it get tiring though, not having the same version each time, not sure if they share the same memories or experiences as you do?" I asked, unsure as to why we would chose to do something like this.

"It is sometimes." He admitted. "But it's also so much more than that. It's exciting, getting different versions of you come through here. It mixes it up, you know? I might get a serious one once, and a childish one the next time. Although, it isn't fun when a different version of myself screws up and gets you mad, and then you come for the next adventure and you're mad at me for something I might not have done yet, or something I did decades ago." He said, causing me to laugh. "Oh, you think that's funny do you?" He asked while I kept laughing.

"It's just, you really don't change at all, do you?" I said with a smile on my face. "I mean, earlier, I thought you might have gone all domestic on me, which you might have, but deep down, you're always you." I said, looking into his mint green eyes.

"Well that's a very good thing that I am me, because that means I get to spend my time with you." He said sweetly with a smile. In that moment I wanted to bring up the kiss that happened, I really did, but I didn't want to ruin the moment.

"I guess it is." I said lightly. "I wouldn't want to be going about this all without my best friend by my side." I said, taking his hand and weaving my fingers through his.

He was about to say something when Amy's voice came ringing through the halls.

"Doctor! Ester! I finished! Where are the two of you?" She called.

He let out a sigh. "Coming Amy." He called, pulling me out of the supply closet with him.

"Did you two fix that thingy?" Amy asked, leaning against the console.

"The rectifier." I said.

"Did you fix it?"

"No, it can wait, just have to drop Ester back where she was..." The Doctor trailed off, running around the console unit. Amy backed out of his way and stood next to me instead. "Speaking of," The Doctor said, lifting his head up to look at me, "Where  _did_  I pick you up from?"

"Uhm... A couple blocks away from my flat, just after you and Rose went for chips." I said.

"Okay." He said with a grin, pulling the final lever down and sending us into the Time Vortex.


	6. New Earth

"Here good?" The Doctor asked, walking out of the newly parked TARDIS with me.

"Yeah, thanks." I nodded, a small smile on my face.

"You have your journal, and all the other stuff in your bag?" He asked, pointing to my canvas bag that hung over my shoulder.

"Yes." I said. "Do you seriously think I would forget the journal that I've been carrying around since I moved in with the Tyler's?" I asked.

"Well..." He trailed.

"Spoilers?" I questioned, his face lit up in response.

"See, you're getting the hang of it!" He exclaimed happily.

"Yeah." I laughed. "I guess I am. I best be going now." I said, not really wanting to leave him.

"Good bye Ester." The Doctor said, pulling me in for a tight hug.

"Good bye Doctor." I said, walking away from him as he walked into the TARDIS. I turned around when I heard that all to familiar sound of the TARDIS dematerializing. There was an unpleasant feeling in my stomach as I watched the TARDIS fade out of sight, taking Amy and the Doctor with it.

I sighed, turning back away from the now empty spot, and walked towards my school where I worked as a teacher's assistant. I was determined to finally accomplish the task that I had set out to do almost five days ago. Of course, as far as anyone here would know, I had only been gone for a few hours.

I was surprised at how quickly my body and mind made the switch from human to Time Lord. Granted, I could have been human much longer; eight years is hardly anything compared to the life span of a Time Lord after all. But one thing kept eating at me; a thought I couldn't shake. The fact that I had left the Doctor alone for several hundred years felt like a ten ton weight weighing down my hearts.

I couldn't process just how he would have coped. If I were in his place, I know for sure I would have lost it after a short amount of time. The war itself would be enough to drive me mad, but not having my best friend, my second half, on top of it all; I knew I wouldn't have lasted as long as he had to. But that also proved just how strong he is. He can refocus himself on other, more important tasks when he needs to. And he was able to stop the war, even if it meant destroying our home, but he saved the rest of the universe in exchange.

These thoughts flooded my mind as I walked towards the school. As I got closer and closer, I noticed something odd close by the school. A blue police box.

A grin broke out on my face as I picked up my pace, heading strait for the TARDIS.

My hand rested on the handle, the other against the blue wood. I tried opening the door, but it was locked. "Seriously?" I sighed. I knocked, no response. "Come on girl, you know it's me." I whined, slumping against the door. Suddenly, there was a click above my head and suddenly I was on my back, the back of my head hitting metal grating. "Ow!" I groaned, opening my eyes to see a familiar face looking down on me.

"Rose!" I exclaimed, a grin breaking out on my face at the sight of my little sister.

"Hey Ester." She laughed.

"Mind helping me up?" I asked, noting that I was still on the grating.

"Sure." She said, offering her hand, which I happily took in my own. Once I was on my own two feet and standing in the TARDIS I pulled the blonde girl in for a hug.

"I missed you." I said into Rose's hair.

"I missed you too." She said. "Even though I just saw you... this time travel stuff is weird." She laughed.

"Oh, trust me." I laughed, pulling away from her. "It can get much worse." I laughed. "I mean, when you travel around with a man like the Doctor, weird is the first thing you sign up for." I smiled.

"But it's a good weird." Rose amended.

"Oh, it's the best isn't it!" I agreed. "Speaking of, where is the Doctor?"

"Not sure, when I heard you knocking I was in the hallway looking for him." Rose explained.

"Hm... Doctor!" I called out, hoping he would hear me. All of a sudden I had this sharp pain in my neck. "Ow!" I said, putting my hand to the spot on the back of my neck.

"You alright?" Rose asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah." I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "It's just a cramp, I must've slept weird last night." I said, saying the only logical explanation I could think of.

"Rough night huh?" Rose asked, a smirk on her face.

"You could say that." I said, trying to think of the last time I slept. It must have been on the floor of Craig's flat.

"Oh, really? Who's the lucky bloke?" Rose asked, causing me to almost choke on my own spit.

"Rose Tyler!" I exclaimed, my face turning a bright red. "How could you think of such a thing?" I questioned, my voice raising a couple of octaves. "For your information, I was sleeping on the floor of a flat with a murderous and confused autopilot program on the floor above me, but really it wasn't a floor above me, it was a spaceship with a perception filter to make it seem as if it was a second floor-"

"Okay, I get it, alien tech thing that I'm not going to understand." She laughed.

"It's not that hard to understand, really." I defended.

"Say's the girl with the Time Lord brain." Rose laughed.

"What's all this about then?" An unfamiliar voice said from behind me. I turned around and saw a very attractive, slim man with brown, sticky-upy hair, and big brown doe eyes. He was wearing a suit that might have been a size too small for him, and cream converses.

"Hello there." I said, giving the man a smile. "You a new companion? I'm Ester." I asked, reaching me hand out to him. He looked offended.

"Oh my God!" Rose cried with laugher, clutching her gut.

"Did you really just...?" The man said in a disbelieving tone.

"I'm sorry, did I miss something?" I asked, looking to Rose for an explanation. "Where's the Doctor?"

"I-I can't believe you just..." The man said in the same tone.

"Rose, what's going on?" I asked my sister, who was just about on the ground by then.

"It's him." She managed through the laughter. "That's the Doctor."

My eyes went wide and my jaw dropped. "Oh... Hello then... Doctor..." I trailed, knowing for a fact my face was as red as a tomato by now.

"Ester." He nodded, still seeming a bit ticked off.

"Is this the bit where we compare journals and you find that this is the first time I've ever seen this face, so you really shouldn't be cross with me for making the totally inaccurate mistake of thinking that-" My rambling stopped when a pair of arms wrapped around me, pulling me in for a bone crushing hug. I wrapped my arms around him and breathed in his sent of mint toothpaste and star dust. "I guess this means you aren't cross?"

"I'll get over it." He smiled, looking down at me. "So, how do I look? Just regenerated, still getting used to the teeth..." He asked, pulling back from me and doing a little spin.

"Really nice hair, I'll give you that one." I said, reaching up to ruffle it up. He stuck his tongue out in response. "So, 10th, yeah?" I asked, getting a nod from him before he started running about the console unit, beginning to send us into the Time Vortex.

"Have we done Utah yet?" He asked, looking up from the levers.

"No, the only one we would've done together at this point is the Consciousness." I told him, going over to the console to help get her in flight.

"Okay then, that explains a few things..." He trailed.

"What?" I asked.

"Spoilers." He said, returning back to flying the TARDIS.

"So where are we going?" Rose asked, standing next to me.

"Further than we've ever gone before." The Doctor said, grinning as he pulled down the final lever, starting the flight. We all grabbed on to the support railing that was connected to the console, grins of pure excitement on our faces. The three of us ran out of the TARDIS as soon as it landed, the Doctor grabbing a long jacket before sprinting out with us.

The TARDIS landed by a river with a massive city on the other side. Flying cars flew above our heads, and a pleasant sent filled the air around us.

"It's the year five billion and twenty three. We're in the galaxy M87, and this? This is New Earth." The Doctor explained, looking up at the sky.

"That's just. That's just-" Rose stuttered, unsure of what to say.

"Not bad. Not bad at all." I commended, nodding towards the TARDIS.

"That's amazing. I'll never get used to this. Never." Rose decided. "Different ground beneath my feet, different sky. What's that smell?" She asked.

I reached down and ripped out a few blades of grass. "Apple grass." I said, smiling at the Doctor.

"Apple grass." The Doctor agreed.

"Apple grass." Rose sighed in amazement.

"Yeah, yeah."

"It's beautiful. Oh, I love this. Can I just say, travelling with you, both of you, I love it." Rose sighed happily.

"It's pretty great isn't it? I've got my best friend, my sister and my TARDIS. I think life is pretty damn good." I said, smiling at the two of them.

"Me too." The Doctor said. "Come on."

***

We found a nice little hill that we could put the Doctor's long coat on and lay down, looking at the beautiful city.

"So, the year five billion, the sun expands, the Earth gets roasted." The Doctor started, explaining to Rose why this planet is called New Earth.

"That was our first date." Rose said.

"We had chips." The Doctor noted.

"Too bad I was asleep, would've been cool." I said.

"Hey!" The Doctor protested. "You're the one who thought it was best to stay inside, I was all for you coming along." The Doctor said.

"Yeah, you're right... So anyway, planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up, they get all nostalgic, big revival movement, but then they find this place. Same size as the Earth, same air, same orbit. Lovely. Call goes out, the humans move in." I explained.

"What's the city called?" Rose asked.

"New New York." The Doctor said with a grin on his face.

"Oh, come on." Rose said, thinking the Doctor was messing with her.

"No really, it is." I said, defending him. "It's the city of New New York. Strictly speaking, it's the fifteenth New York since the original."

"So that makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York." The Doctor said as I counted them off with my fingers. "What?" He asked, seeing the Rose was giving him an odd look.

"He said all seventeen." I said, looking to Rose for an explanation.

"You're so different."

"New New Doctor." He smiled.

"Well, New New New New New New New New-" I started, mocking him.

"Alright, I get it, I'm old." He said, causing me to laugh.

"Can we go and visit New New York, so good they named it twice?" Rose asked, getting antsy.

"Well, I thought we might go there first." He said, pointing to two curved skyscrapers sitting on our side of the river.

"Why, what is it?"

"Some sort of hospital. Green moon on the side. That's the universal symbol for hospitals." I said.

"I got this. A message on the psychic paper." The Doctor said, showing us the physic paper. It had a message that asked us to come to Ward 26.

"Someone wants to see me." The Doctor said.

"Or me, it's not like I have physic paper." I protested, giving him a look. "By the way, where's my sonic? Hmm?" I asked, sort of annoyed that I haven't gotten it yet.

"When we have time, I'll see what I can do." He promised, getting on his feet. "Now come on, places to go and people to see apparently."

"Hmm. And I thought we were just sight-seeing." Rose said, amused. "Come on, then. Let's go and buy some grapes." 

***

"Bit rich coming from you." Rose said, poking fun at the Doctor's dislike of hospitals.

"I can't help it. I don't like hospitals. They give me the creeps." He defended, an unpleasant look on his face.

"You can't really blame him though." I defended. "I mean, they aren't exactly the cheeriest." I said, looking around the massively beautiful area.

"The Pleasure Gardens will now take visitors carrying green or blue identification cards for the next fifteen minutes. Visitors are reminded that cuttings from the gardens are not permitted." The loud speakers said from above our heads.

"Very smart. Not exactly NHS." Rose commended.

"No shop." The Doctor said, disappointed. "I like the little shop..."

"It would lighten the place up a bit, wouldn't it?" I thought, nodding to a passing nurse.

"I thought this far in the future, they'd have cured everything." Rose said.

"Well think about it. Even in your time, viruses are become immune to the medication, they keep growing and multiplying and getting stronger. They breed and mutate and become so many other viruses that you didn't even know existed. It's an ongoing cycle that will never end as long as there are living organisms." I explained.

"The human race moves on, but so do the viruses. It's an ongoing war." The Doctor added as a nurse passed us.

"They're cats." Rose exclaimed, noticing the nurses for the first time.

"Now, don't stare. Think what you look like to them, all pink and yellow. That's where I'd put the shop. Right there." The Doctor said, motioning to an empty space by the lifts.

"That is a good place." I agreed, walking into the lift with the Doctor.

"Ward 26, thanks!" He said to the intercom in the lift.

"Wait, Doctor? Where's Rose?" I asked. As soon as I looked out of the closing lift doors, I saw Rose running towards us.

"Hold on! Hold on!" She exclaimed, just as the doors shut.

"Oh, too late. We're going up." The Doctor said, just as the lift started moving.

"It's all right, there's another lift." Rose called.

"Ward 26!" I reminded her.

"And watch out for the disinfectant." The Doctor exclaimed, forewarning her.

"Watch out for what?" She exclaimed.

"The disinfectant!" He yelled.

"The what?" Came her muffled response.

"The disin- Oh, you'll find out." I sighed, rolling my eyes.

"Commence stage one disinfection." The overhead speaker said.

Water sprayed from the ceiling, quickly drenching both the Doctor and myself. I was suddenly very glad I was not wearing a white top. I ran my hands through my long, wet hair, trying to get all the liquid through my hair. The spray stopped, and warm air came blowing through all he surfaces in the lift.

"This is nice!" I said, over the sound of the moving air.

"It really is!" He agreed, getting the last bit of water out of his hair.

"Do you think the TARDIS would make us one?" I questioned.

"I hope so!"

The air stopped, and the doors opened, revealing Ward 26 and a veiled nurse that would be our escort.

"Hello." I smiled at the nurse, who introduced herself as Nurse Jatt.

"Nice place. No shop, downstairs. I'd have a shop. Not a big one. Just a shop, so people can shop." The Doctor rambled, looking around.

"Oh stop, you just want to play with the little noise makers."

"The hospital is a place of healing." Nurse Jatt said, removing her veil.

"A shop does some people the world of good. Not me. Other people." He countered.

"The Sisters of Plentitude take a lifelong vow to help, and to mend." Nurse Jatt said as we passed an open cubicle with two people, a young woman and an oversized man who looked like he was made of stone.

"Excuse me! Members of the public may only gaze upon the Duke of Manhattan with written permission from the Senate of New New York." The woman said quickly.

"That's Petrifold Regression, right?" I asked, recognizing the illness.

"I'm dying, sir, ma'am. A lifetime of charity and abstinence, and it ends like this." The Duke groaned.

"Any statements made by the Duke of Manhattan may not be made public without official clearance." The woman said, just a quick as the first time.

"Frau Clovis! I'm so weak." The Duke moaned.

"Sister Jatt. A little privacy, please." The woman insisted, closeting the curtains to the cubicle.

"He'll be up and about in no time." Jatt insisted.

"I doubt it. Petrifold Regression? He's turning to stone. There won't be a cure for oh, a thousand years? He might be up and about, but only as a statue." The Doctor said.

"Have faith in the Sisterhood. But is there no one here you recognise? It's rather unusual to visit without knowing the patient." Jatt asked.

"No, I think I've found him." The Doctor said, looking towards a giant face in a glass container, sitting by a gigantic window with a breathtaking view of the city below.

"Is that the Face of Boe?" I asked the Doctor quietly. He nodded. "I thought he was just a myth." I said, completely awe stricken.

"Novice Hame, if I can leave these two in your care?" Nurse Jatt asked, motioning to me and the Doctor. Novice Hame nodded.

"Doctor, where's Rose? Shouldn't she be here by now?" I asked him quietly, not wanting disturb anyone.

"True..." The Doctor trailed. He turned to Nurse Jatt. "Oh, I think our friend got lost. Rose Tyler. Could you ask at reception?" He asked.

"Certainly, sir." She said, leaving us with Novice Hame and the Face of Boe.

"I'm afraid the Face of Boe's asleep." Novice Hame said when me and the Doctor crouched down to get a closer look at him. "That's all he tends to do these days. Are you a friend, or..."

"We met just the once on Platform One." The Doctor explained. "What's wrong with him?" He asked.

"I'm so sorry. I thought you knew. The Face of Boe is dying." Hame said mournfully.

"Of what?" I asked, looking up at the cat nurse.

"Old age. The one thing we can't cure. He's thousands of years old. Some people say millions, although that's impossible."

"Oh, you'd be surprised..." I said. "Nothing is truly impossible."

"Oh, I don't know. I like impossible." The Doctor said. "I'm here. I look a bit different, but it's me, It's the Doctor." The Doctor said, putting his hand against the glass.

"Doctor, I'm going to find Rose. I'll give you some space." I said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Be safe." He said, causing me to laugh a bit.

"It's a hospital, what could possibly go wrong?" I asked, giving him a mischievous grin.

***

I decided to start from the bottom of the Hospital and work my way up. I was walking around the basement, when I heard a familiar voice.

"Well, you've got a knack for survival, I'll give you that." Rose said, her voice carrying through the halls.

"Well that was quicker than I anticipated..." I said to myself, walking towards the sound of her voice.

"But I've not been idle, Rose, tucked away underneath this hospital. I've been listening. The Sisters are hiding something." A new voice said, who ever it was, they didn't seem too good. My hearts started beating faster, worried about my sister.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, her voice sounding closer as I kept going through the halls, trying to get to her.

"Oh these cats have secrets. Hush, let me whisper. Come close." The voice said, by this time I was sprinting towards them.

"You must be joking if you think I'm coming anywhere near you." Rose argued, finally I could see her and a creature that looked like a processed clone and a second one, looking like a tarp with eyes and a mouth.

I was just behind her when I saw the energy shoot from a machine. "Rose! Get down! Now!" I yelled, starling all three of them. Rose fell to the ground just before the energy grabbed her. Since she was no longer in the way, the energy grabbed my hands, keeping me locked in place.

"What are you?" I demanded, looking at the tarp. "I've seen things that would make minds burn, but I've never seen any thing like you."

"Oh, you'll find out soon, you're not Blondie, but you'll work." The tarp said.

"You let her go Cassandra!" Rose ordered, getting up off the ground.

"Chip, take care of little Rosie." The tarp, Cassandra told the clone. He walked towards Rose, a vial of something in his hands. Rose kept backing away from him.

"Rose, run! Go get the Doctor! Run!" I exclaimed, struggling against the energy.

Rose started heading for the doorway, but Chip got there before her. He sprayed the contents of the vial into her face, and she slumped to the ground.

"What did you do to her!" I yelled, demanding an answer from either one of them.

"Chip, activate the psychograft." Cassandra ordered, completely ignoring me.

"Tell me what you did to her!" I demanded. Light suddenly fell over me from something programmed into the ceiling.

"The lady's moving on. It's goodbye trampoline, and hello brunette." The tarp said. There was a whoosh of energy and a sharp pain in my head and I fell to the ground.

' _No_...' I thought, I wasn't in any control.

' _Yes_!' Cassandra's voice echoed through my mind.

' _Get out of my head_!'

' _Oh, sweetie, I'm not just in your head, I AM you_.' I immediately started closing off parts of my mind from her access, ensuring that important information wouldn't get into her hands, or mind, rather.

"Mistress?" Chip asked.

"Moisturize me." Cassandra gasped, opening my eyes for the first time. "How bizarre. Arms, fingers, hair!" She said, standing up and messing with my long hair. "Oh? What is that?" She asked, putting a hand to my chest. "Two hearts?" She questioned. "This one may not be blonde, but ooh, she's a Time Lord!" She exclaimed. "Hair color can change, but two hearts?"

' _Oh, you have another thing coming if you think you're going to dye my hair.'_ I thought.

' _Well, it's not your hair anymore, is it_?' She countered.

"Look at me. From class to brass. Although, oh, curves. Oh, baby, it's like living inside a bouncy castle!" She laughed.

' _HEY!_ '

"The mistress is beautiful." Chip assured.

"Absolutement! Oh, but look." Cassandra sighed, looking at the fried equipment that she had once been attached to.

"Oh, the brain lead expired. My old mistress is gone!" Chip cried.

"But safe and sound in here." She said, tapping my head.

' _Not for long_.'

"But what of the Ester child's mind?" Chip asked.

"Oh, tucked away. The brat blocked it all off. I can just about access the surface memory. She's. Gosh, she's with the Doctor and her sister. A man. He's the Doctor. The same Doctor with a new face. That hypocrite! I must get the name of his surgeon. I could do with a little work. Although nice rear bumper. Hmm..."

' _Okay, one, it's called regeneration; look it up, and two, no_.'

Rose's phone started going off, reminding me that my sister was still unconscious. "Oh, it seems to be ringing. Is it meant to ring?" Cassandra asked, going over to Rose and getting the phone out of her pocket. I let out a mental sigh of relief when I noticed Rose was still breathing.

"A primitive communications device." Chip explained. Cassandra picked up the phone and answered it.

"Rose, where are you?" The Doctor's voice came through the phone.

"How does she speak?" Cassandra asked, putting her hand over her end of the phone.

"Old Earth Cockney." Chip said.

"Er, wotcha." If I could have, I would have face palmed myself right then and there.

"Ester? I take it you found Rose then? Why couldn't she answer her phone? Is she alright?" He asked, worry evident in his voice.

"Oh, she's dandy. She hit her noggin. All topsy turvy." Cassandra said awkwardly.

"Can you get her up here by yourself? I could come and get you. Where are you, I'll be on my way."

"I can do the thing, I'm on my way, governor. I shall proceed up the apples and pears." Cassandra said.

' _You're going to get caught_.' I thought in a sing-song tone, knowing that she would hear me

"I'd better go. See you in a minute." The Doctor said. "Oh, and Ester? Be safe." He said, hanging up the phone before Cassandra responded. My hearts started being a little faster when he said my name, and I couldn't help but thinking about what Amy had told me about talking with the Doctor. I felt like a stupid school girl, however, getting all caught up in something that might not even be possible.

"This Doctor man is dangerous." Chip said once Cassandra put the phone away.

"Dangerous and clever. I might need a mind like his. The Sisterhood is up to something. Remember that Old Earth saying, never trust a Nun? Never trust a Nurse. And never trust a cat. Perfume?" Cassandra asked, wanting the bottle that Chip had used on Rose. She pulled the front of my teeshirt down to reveal more skin than I would have liked, and put the bottle in my bra. "Now, how do we get the other one to the Doctor?" Cassandra wondered.

' _Aw, looks like the Lady is going to have to do some work_.' I said sarcastically, knowing I was getting on her nerves.

***

"Ambient temperature stands at fourteen degrees. This temperature is designed to promote healing and well-being." An overhead speaker said in Ward 26. Cassandra walked us into the ward, where one of the nurses took Rose and put her on a hospital bed.

"There you are." The Doctor said, waving us over. "How's Rose?" He asked, pulling me in for a hug. Again, I felt my hearts speeding up.

"Rosie, yes, good." Cassandra said.

"Good." He said, smiling down at me. "Come and look at this patient." A man floating in air was in a cubicle. "Marconi's Disease. Should take years to recover. Two days. I've never seen anything like it. They've invented a cell washing cascade.  _It's amazing_. Their medical science is way advanced. And this one." He showed us a man who was a white as a sheet. "Pallidome Pancrosis. Kills you in ten minutes, and he's fine!" He was more excited than a little boy on Christmas. "We need to find a terminal. I've got to see how they do this. Because if they've got the best medicine in the world, then why is it such a secret?" He wondered.

"I can't Adam and Eve it." Cassandra said. At this point, I wasn't sure if the Doctor knew that something was wrong, or if he was just a flat out idiot.

"What's, what's, what's with the voice?" He stuttered, obviously confused.

' _If he doesn't catch on...'_

"Oh, I don't know. Just larking about. New Earth, new me." Cassandra said.

"Well, I can talk. New New Doctor." He laughed.

"Mmm, aren't you just." Cassandra said. Before I could process what was going on, Cassandra had grabbed the Doctor by the lapels of his coat and kissed him long and hard. My brain could have melted right then and there, and I would've died happy.

And then I snapped back to my senses.

' _What the hell do you think you're doing?!'_

"Terminal's this way. Phew." Cassandra broke away, turning away from the Doctor and walking out of the ward.

"Yep, still got it." I just barely heard him sigh. Instead of thinking about what just happened, or thinking about what Amy was telling me to do, I focused on slowing my rapidly beating hearts.

***

"Nope, nothing odd. Surgery, post-op, nano-dentistry. No sign of a shop. They should have a shop." The Doctor rambled, looking around.

"No, it's missing something else." Cassandra interrupted. "When I was downstairs, those Nurse Cat Nuns were talking about Intensive Care. Where is it?"

"You're right. Well done." The Doctor commended.

"Why would they hide a whole department? It's got to be there somewhere. Search the sub-frame." Cassandra said.

"What if the sub-frame's locked?"

"Try the installation protocol." Cassandra said, starting to sound more like me.

"Yeah. Of course. Sorry. Hold on." The Doctor said, still distracted by the kiss.

I couldn't help but think about it either. But what did he mean when he said he still had it? Had he kissed me before? And the way he looked after the kiss, did he like it? He certainly kissed back, so he must have... Did he...? No. He couldn't have.

' _Could you shut up for two minutes_?' Cassandra asked.

' _Could you get out of my head? Then you wouldn't have to listen to me_.' I countered.

The wall with the interface system slid down to reveal a very tech extensive corridor.

"Intensive Care." The Doctor said. "Certainly looks intensive."

Cassandra walked into the corridor, the Doctor following us. We went down a staircase and found that the room was lined with thousands of single person cells. The Doctor opened one of them to reveal a very sick looking man.

"That's disgusting. What's wrong with him?" Cassandra said in a disgusted tone.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The Doctor told the man, shutting the door to the cell before opening the next one. This one had a young woman who looked to be in the same shape as the man was.

"What disease is that?" Cassandra asked.

"All of them." The Doctor said. "Every single disease in the galaxy. They've been infected with everything." He said, outraged.

"What about us? Are we safe?"

"The air's sterile. Just don't touch them." He said, closing the door to the woman's cell.

"How many patients are there?" Cassandra asked, my stomach dropped, putting the pieces together in my mind.

"They're not patients." He said, getting the same conclusion as I had.

"But they're sick." Cassandra said, not getting it yet.

"They were born sick. They're meant to be sick. They  _exist_  to be sick. Lab rats. No wonder the Sisters have got a cure for everything. They've built the ultimate research laboratory. A human farm." The Doctor spat.

"Why don't they just die?" Cassandra asked.

"Plague carriers. The last to go." He explained.

"It's for the greater cause." Novice Hame said from behind us, the Doctor and Cassandra turned around.

"Novice Hame, When you took your vows, did you agree to this?" He asked, clearly angry at the cat nurse.

"The Sisterhood has sworn to help." Novice Hame said.

"What, by killing?" He yelled.

"But they're not real people. They're specially grown. They have no proper existence." She reasoned.

"What's the turnover, hmm? Thousand a day? Thousand the next? Thousand the next? How many thousands? For how many years? How many!" He yelled, his face going red.

"Mankind needed us. They came to this planet with so many illnesses. We couldn't cope. We did try. We tried everything. We tried using clone-meat and bio-cattle, but the results were too slow, so the Sisterhood grew its own flesh. That's all they are. Flesh." She said.

"These people are alive." He protested.

"But think of those Humans out there, healthy and happy, because of us." Novice Hame said with a smile.

"If they live because of this, then life is worthless." He countered.

"But who are you to decide that?" She questioned.

"I'm the Doctor, and that's Ester. And if you don't like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority, then there isn't one. It stops with us." He spat.

"Just to confirm. None of the humans in the city actually know about this?" Cassandra asked.

"We thought it best not." Novice Hame explained.

"Hold on. I can understand the bodies. I can understand your vows. One thing I can't understand. What have you done to Ester?" He said, pointing at me and Cassandra.

' _FINALLY_.'

"I don't know what you mean." The cat said, confused.

"And I'm being very, very calm. You want to be aware of that. Very, very calm. And the only reason I'm being so very, very calm is that the brain is a delicate thing, and the brain of a Time Lord is just as delicate. Whatever you've done to Ester's head, I want it reversed." He ordered.

"We haven't done anything." Novice Hame said.

"I'm perfectly fine." Cassandra argued.

"These people are dying, and Ester would care." He countered.

"Oh, all right, clever clogs. Smarty pants. Lady-killer." Cassandra sighed, stopping her act of trying to sound like me.

"What's happened to you?" The Doctor asked, grabbing my wrist.

"I knew something was going on in this hospital, but I needed a body, I was going to use the blonde at first, but then she showed up. Between her body and your mind, I could ins out what's going on." Cassandra explained, ripping my wrist out of his grasp.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"The last human." She said simply.

"Cassandra?" The Doctor asked, his eyes going wide.

"Wake up and smell the perfume." She said, pulling the vial out of my bra and spraying it up his nose. He was immediately passed out on the ground.

' _Why did you do that to him_?' I exclaimed.

"You've hurt him. I don't understand. I'll have to fetch Matron." Novice Hame said, looking down at the Doctor.

"You do that, because I want to see her. Now, run along. Sound the alarm!" Cassandra exclaimed, pulling at some exposed wires, causing the alarms to go off, Hame ran out of the corridor, going for back up.

***

By the time the Doctor was awake, he was locked in an empty cell, and Chip had joined me and Cassandra.

"Let me out! Let me out!" He cried, banging on the small window of the cell.

"Aren't you lucky there was a spare? Standing room only." Cassandra said, not making any movement to open the cell.

"You've stolen Ester's body." The Doctor said, glaring at Cassandra.

"Over the years, I've thought of a thousand ways to kill you, Doctor. And now, that's exactly what I've got. One thousand diseases. They pump the patients with a top-up every ten minutes. You've got about three minutes left. Enjoy." Cassandra laughed.

' _Let him go! Let him go and you can keep me_!' I thought as loud as I could, wanting to get her attention.

"Just let Ester go, Cassandra." The Doctor said, not caring about his own well being.

"Oh, isn't this rich." She laughed. "The both of you are offering yourselves up for the other! How fun!"

The Doctor looked into my eyes, and it felt like he was actually looking at me instead of Cassandra.

"Ester, I will get you back." He said through the cell. "Get out of her Cassandra." He ordered.

"I will. As soon as I've found someone younger, and less common, her sister maybe, then I'll junk her with the waste. Now hushaby. It's showtime." Cassandra said, noticing that Nurse Casp and Nurse Jatt had come into the room.

"Anything we can do to help?" Nurse Jatt asked.

"Straight to the point, Whiskers. I want money." Cassandra said.

"The Sisterhood is a charity. We don't give money. We only accept." Nurse Casp said.

"The humans across the water pay you a fortune, and that's exactly what I need. A one-off payment, that's all I want. Oh, and perhaps a yacht. In return for which, I shall tell the city nothing of your institutional murder. Is that a deal?" Cassandra asked.

"I'm afraid not." Nurse Casp denied.

"I'd really advise you to think about this." Cassandra said.

"Oh, there's no need. I have to decline." The nurse said.

"I'll tell them, and you've no way of stopping me. You're not exactly Nuns with Guns. You're not even armed." Cassandra mocked.

"Who needs arms when we have claws?" Nurse Casp said, showing her claws.

'You're an idiot, you know? They're cats, of course they have claws.' I thought.

"Well, nice try. Chip? Plan B." Cassandra ordered. Chip pulled a lever that was next to him and all the cell doors opened up. The Doctor walked out of his cell, but the diseased people did too.

"What've you done?" The Doctor yelled, backing away from the people.

"Gave the system a shot of adrenaline, just to wake them up. See you!" Cassandra said, running towards the exit, Chip following behind us.

"Don't touch them! Whatever you do, don't touch!" The Doctor yelled, running after us

"Oh, my God." Cassandra gasped, looking at all the open cells.

"What the hell have you done?" The Doctor yelled.

"It wasn't me." Cassandra said, acting insulted.

"One touch and you get every disease in the world, and I want that body safe, Cassandra. We've got to go down." The Doctor said.

"But there's thousands of them!" Cassandra protested.

'Well whose fault is that?' I thought.

"Run! Down! Down! Go down!" The Doctor yelled, going down the steep stairs with Chip and Cassandra behind him. "Keep going! Go down!" He yelled when Cassandra wasn't going fast enough. When we got to the basement, Cassandra made a bee-line to the lift. "No, the lifts have closed down. That's the quarantine. Nothing's moving." The Doctor explained.

"This way!" Cassandra exclaimed, running towards where I found her with Rose. As we ran, Chip got cut off from us and was trapped in the crowd of the sick.

"Someone will touch him." The Doctor said, wanting to run back for him.

"Leave him!" Cassandra yelled. "He's just a clone thing. He's only got a half life. Come on!" She said, running away from the Doctor and Chip.

"Mistress!" Chip cried.

'Are you really that heartless?' I asked her. We kept running to the back door. She opened it to see a wall of people there also.

"We're trapped! What am I going to do?" She asked frantically.

"Well, for starters, you're going to leave that body. That psychograft is banned on every civilised planet. You're compressing Ester to death." The Doctor said.

"But I've got nowhere to go. My original skin's dead." Cassandra cried.

"Not my problem. You can float as atoms in the air. Now, get out. Give her back to me." He demanded.

"You asked for it." Cassandra said. There was a similar spout of energy and all of a sudden, I had control over my body.

"God, my head." I groaned. "Where'd she go?" I asked, looking to the Doctor.

"Oh, my. This is different." The Doctor said.

"I should've known." I said, getting mad. "You wouldn't just give up like that, you had to go into the nearest body, didn't you?"

"Goodness me, I'm a man. Yum. So many parts. And hardly used." She said, ignoring me.

"Get out of him!" I demanded.

"Oo, he's slim, and a little bit foxy." She said, raising an eyebrow. "You've thought so too. I've been inside your head. You've been looking. You like it." She said, getting close to my face. I felt my face go hot, but before I could respond, the diseases people burst through the door, coming towards us. "What do we do? What would he do? The Doctor, what the hell would he do?" Cassandra exclaimed.

I quickly looked around the room, and found the answer to our problem. "Ladder. We've got to get up." I said, heading towards it.

"Out of the way, girly!" Cassandra said, shoving me out of the way and running towards the ladder.

"Please, help us. Help." A woman said, following us up the ladder.

"Get out of his body Cassandra." I repeated, not giving up the fight as we climbed up the ladder.

"Yap, yap, yap." Cassandra mocked. "God, it was tedious inside your head. Hormone city."

"Get out of-" A hand grabbed my ankle. I looked and saw it was one of the car nurses. "Get off!" I yelled, trying to free my ankle.

"All our good work. All that healing. The good name of the Sisterhood. You have destroyed everything!" She yelled, not letting go of her tight grip on my ankle.

"Go and play with a ball of string." Cassandra said, still climbing up.

"Everywhere, disease. This is the human world. Sickness!" Nurse Casp yelled. An arm of one of the sick grabbed on to Casp, causing her to let go of my ankle and fall into the mass of people, screaming as she fell.

"Maximum quarantine. Divert all shuttles." The speakers echoed through the building. We kept climbing until we got to a door to the next level. Cassandra tried opening them, but they wouldn't budge.

"Help us." A man behind us said, climbing close to us.

"Now what do we do?" Cassandra cried.

"Use the sonic screwdriver." I said, saying the obvious.

"You mean this thing?" Cassandra said, pulling the sonic out of the Doctor's pocket.

"Yes, I mean that thing!" I exclaimed.

"Well, I don't know how. That Doctor's hidden away all his thoughts." Cassandra said.

"Then give it to me! I know how to work it." I said, trying to ration with her.

"No way, what if it's a weapon?"

"You really think he would carry a weapon on him? It's a screwdriver!" I said, getting desperate.

"I'm not giving it to you!" She said.

"Cassandra, go back into me. The Doctor can open it. Do it!" I sighed, giving up.

"Hold on tight." She said. The energy flowed from the Doctor to me again and I lost control of my own body once more.

"Oh, chavtastic again." Cassandra sighed. "Open it!" She yelled at the Doctor.

"Not till you get out of her." He said.

"We need the Doctor." Cassandra argued.

"I order you to leave her!" He yelled. Cassandra switched bodies again.

"No matter how difficult the situation, there is no need to shout." Cassandra said.

"Cassandra, get out of him!" I yelled.

"But I can't go into you, he simply refuses. He's so rude." She explained.

"Yeah? Well if you don't get out of him soon, he's gonna look well mannered compared to me." I threatened.

"Oh, I am so going to regret this." She sighed. She transferred her life energy again, but instead of going into me, she went into a sick woman climbing behind me.

"Oh, sweet Lord. I look disgusting." She said. The Doctor used his sonic to open up the door. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the lift.

"Nice to have you back." He said, pulling me into a tight hug. I happily returned the hug, pulling him close to me.

"No, you don't." Cassandra said as the lift doors started to close. Before I knew it, I lost control and was sitting on the ground, slumped against the wall of the lift.

"That was your last warning, Cassandra!" The Doctor said when we got back to the floor with Ward 26.

"Inside her head. They're so alone. They keep reaching out, just to hold us. All their lives and they've never been touched." Cassandra said softly. The Doctor offered his hand and pulled us up to our feet. We walked out of the lift and into the ward.

As soon as we walked into the ward, Frau Clovis, the secretary for the Senator of New New York, had lunged at us with a metal stand. When Cassandra noticed Rose laying on the Hospital bed, she transferred her energy from me to her.  
"We're safe! We're safe! We're safe! We're clean! We're clean! Look, look." The Doctor and I said.

"Show me your skin." Clovis demanded.

"Look, clean." The Doctor said.

"Look, if we'd been touched, we'd be dead." I added, Clovis had put down the metal stand.

"So how's it going up here? What's the status?" The Doctor asked, looking around. I caught Rose's eyes and Cassandra gave me a smirk. I glared in response.

"There's nothing but silence from the other wards." Clovis said, catching my attention. "I think we're the only ones left. And I've been trying to override the quarantine. If I can trip a signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad."

"You can't do that. If they forced entry, they'd break quarantine." The Doctor explained.

"I am not dying in here." Clovis said.

"We can't let a single particle of disease get out. There is ten million people in that city. They'd all be at risk." I explained. "Now, turn that off!" I exclaimed.

"Not if it gets me out."

"All right, fine." The Doctor sighed. "So I have to stop you lot as well. Suits me. Ester, Cassandra, novice Hame, everyone! Excuse me, your Grace. Get me intravenous solutions for every single disease. Move it!" He ordered running about the room.

Everyone grabbed drip bags filled with medication. I went to the Doctor's side, helping him find some rope. "Hello." I said. He turned around with a big grin on his face.

"Hello." He said, pulling me in for a quick hug.

"She has Rose." I said, worry lacing my voice.

"We'll get her back Ester." He said, pulling some long rope from a closet. He turned to me. "I promise."

I smiled at him. "Okay." I said.

By now, there was a growing pile of medicine bags, and a long rope. I helped the Doctor wrap the rope around himself in a way that he would be able to hang the bags on the rope.

"How's that? Will that do?" He asked once I had put all the bags on him.

"It should do." I said, nodding at him.

"Will it do for what?" Cassandra asked, unsure of what was going on. We didn't answer her and started walking to the lifts. "The lifts aren't working." Cassandra said when the Doctor opened the loft with the sonic.

"Not moving. Different thing." I said. "Ready?" I asked him, knowing what he was planing on doing.

"Here we go." He nodded. We took a few steps back, the started sprinting; him with a metal contraption on his hand and me with the sonic. We jumped at the same time, and ended up on opposite sides of the lift cable.

"What do you think you're doing?" Cassandra exclaimed.

"Going down!" I laughed. "Duh!

"Come on!" The Doctor said, attaching the piece of equipment to the cable.

"Not in a million years."

"You're in the body of my little sister and I'm not letting her out of my sight." I said seriously. "Now come on." I ordered.

"Seal the door!" Clovis yelled, closing the door and trapping Cassandra in with the sick people moving towards her

"No!" Cassandra yelled, jumping onto the Doctor's back. "You're completely mad." She said. "I can see why she likes you, not this one, but the other one. The brown haired one." They both looked at my and I looked at my feet, my face going red.

"Going down!" The Doctor yelled, starting the wheel, holding the handles like it was a motor bike, my hands on top of his.

Cassandra was screaming the entire way down. I met the Doctor's eyes with a large grin on my face. I wasn't sure if my hearts were beating so fast because of the adrenalin, or the fact the the Doctor was so close to me.

When the top of the lift shaft came into view, I put the break on just in time, so that we came to a gentle stop on top of the lift.

"Well, that's one way to lose weight." Cassandra sighed, getting off the Doctor's back.

"Now, listen. When I say so, take hold of that lever." The Doctor said to Cassandra as the two of us started taking the medicine bags off the rope.

"There's still a quarantine down there, we can't-"

"Hold that lever!" I ordered, pointing the the lever. "We're cooking up a cocktail. He may be the Doctor, but I know a bit about medicine myself." I said, smirking at the Doctor.

I opened the top of the lift's disinfectant tank, and we started ripping the drop bags open and dumping the contents in the tank.  
"Now, that lever's going to resist. But keep it in position. Hold onto it with everything you've got." The Doctor explained.

"What about you two?" Cassandra asked, holding the lever.

"We've got an appointment." I said, sitting on the edge of the opening to the lift.

"The Doctor is in." The Doctor smirked, taking my hand as we jumped down into the lift. He took his sonic screwdriver and opened the doors, causing the diseased people to turn and look at us.

"I'm in here! Come on!" I yelled, trying to get them to come near us.

"Don't tell them!" Cassandra exclaimed.

"Pull that lever!" The Doctor ordered as the people in the main lobby started walking towards us. "Come and get me. Come on!" He said.

"I'm in here! Come on!" I exclaimed.

"Commence stage one disinfection." The loud speaker in the lift said.

"Hurry up! Come on!"

The medication that we had put in the tank began to spray down on the two of us, soaking us both to the bone.

"Come on, come on." The Doctor said.

"That's it! Good!" I said joyfully as they got sprayed with the mixture and started touching each other, spreading the medication.

"All they want to do is pass it on. Pass it on!" The Doctor said happily.

"Pass on what? Pass on what?" Cassandra asked from above us.

"Pass it on!" I said, hugging a young girl who was then disinfected.

The ones that were disinfected then went to touch the ones that were still sick, disinfecting them as well.

"Yes!" I cheered. "You clever people! Hug each other! Feel contact!"

The Doctor turned to me, pulling me in for a hug. I hugged him tight, and soon, my feet were off the ground and he was spinning me in a circle.

"Ahem." Cassandra said from above us. "A little help please?" In that moment, if Cassandra wasn't in Rose's body, I could've slapped her so hard... The Doctor put me down, so he could help Cassandra down into the lift. I let out an audible sigh. "What did they pass on? Did you kill them? All of them?" She asked, hopeful that they were dying.

"No. That's your way of doing things." I spat, disgusted.

The Doctor looked around at the people and smiled. "I'm the Doctor, and I cured them." I have him a look. "With some help from Ester of course." He added. Another woman came to hug me and I hugged her tight, bringing a giant smile to her face.

"That's right. Hey, there we go, sweetheart." I smiled. I saw her look at a sick man, who looked to be about her age. "Go to him. Go on, that's it. That's it." I smiled as she went to hug him.

"It's a new sub-species, Cassandra. A brand new form of life. New humans! Look at them. Look! Grown by cats, kept in the dark, fed by tubes, but completely, completely alive." The Doctor said, hugging me from behind.

"You can't deny them, because you helped create them." I added.

"The human race just keeps on going, keeps on changing. Life will out! Ha!" He laughed, pulling me close to him.

***

"This is the NNYPD. Please step away from the shuttles." The loud speaker said above us as we walked into the waiting room of Ward 26. "All staff will present themselves to the officers for immediate arrest. I repeat, immediate arrest. All new life forms will be catalogued and taken into care. All visitors to the hospital will be required to make a statement to the NNYPD."

We continued to walk into the ward, to find that the Face of Boe was the only person left in the ward.

"The Face of Boe!" The Doctor exclaimed, running towards him, me and Cassandra following in tow.

"You were supposed to be dying." The Doctor said, crouching down and putting one of his hands to the glass.

"There are better things to do today." The Face of Boe said. "Dying can wait."

"Oh, I hate telepathy. Just what I need, a head full of big face." Cassandra said.

"Shh!"

"Shit up!"

"I have grown tired with the universe, Doctor, Ester, but you have taught me to look at it anew." He continued.

"There are legends, you know, saying that you're millions of years old." I said, wanting to know if the stories were true.

"There are? That would be impossible." The Face of Boe said.

"Wouldn't it just. I got the impression there was something you wanted to tell us." I smiled, looking at the Face.

"A great secret." The Face of Boe agreed.

"So the legend says." The Doctor said.

"It can wait." The Face of Boe said.

"Oh, does it have to?" The Doctor asked, just as curious as I was.

"We shall meet again, Doctor, Ester, for the third time, for the last time, and the truth shall be told. Until that day..." The Face of Boe said, beaming away, leaving the three of us alone in the room.

"Well then." I blinked, not expecting that.

"That is enigmatic. That, that is, that is textbook enigmatic." The Doctor said to me, almost giddy.

"Isn't it?" I agreed.

"And now for you." He said, turning to Cassandra, who was still in my sister's body.

"But everything's happy. Everything's fine. Can't you just leave me?" Cassandra asked.

"I think you've forgotten, but that's my sister's body. She sort of called dibs first." I countered.

"You've lived long enough." The Doctor agreed. "Leave that body and end it, Cassandra."

"I don't want to die." She cried.

"No one does." The Doctor said.

"Help me." She begged, looking back and forth between me and the Doctor.

"We can't, that isn't just an empty shell up for the taking; that's Rose, that's my little sister you've got. And I'd be damned if I'd let you just continue to walk around in her." I argued. "Now get out of her."

"Mistress!" A voice cried, coming towards us. I looked towards the voice and saw Chip hurrying towards us.

"Oh, you're alive." Cassandra said off handedly.

"I kept myself safe for you, mistress." Chip explained.

A body. And not just that, a volunteer." Cassandra said with a sinister smile.

"Don't you dare. He's got a life of his own." The Doctor exclaimed.

"But I worship the mistress. I welcome her." Chip argued.

"You can't, Cassandra, you-" I was cut off by Cassandra switching from Rose's body and into Chip's. I was able to catch Rose before she hit the ground.  
"Hey! You all right? Whoa! Okay?" I said rushed, checking to see if she was alright and that Cassandra didn't leave any damage.

Her eyes fluttered open. "Yeah. Hello!" She said.

"Hello." I laughed, tightening my grip on her.

"Welcome back." The Doctor said, looking down at us.

"Oh, sweet Lord. I'm a walking doodle." Cassandra said, drawing our attention again.

"You can't stay in there." The Doctor said. "I'm sorry, Cassandra, but that's not fair. We can take you to the city. They can build you a skin tank and you can stand trial for what you've done." He said. I nodded in agreement.

"Well, that would be rather dramatic. Possibly my finest hour, and certainly my finest hat, but I'm afraid we don't have time." Cassandra said. "Poor little Chip is only a half-life, and he's been through so much. His heart is racing so. He's failing. I don't think he's going to last-" She fell to her knees, clutching at her heart.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I'm dying, but that's fine." She said.

"We can take you to the city." I said.

"No, you won't." She said. "Everything's new on this planet. There's no place for Chip and me any more. You're right, Doctor. It's time to die, and that's good." She sighed.

"Come on. There's one last thing we can do."

***

The Doctor and I ran around the console unit of the TARDIS, flying it to the right time period. Rose was standing on the sides, holding on to the guard rail while Cassandra was sat on the jump seat.

"It wouldn't hurt if the flight was smoother!" Cassandra said, gripping the seat.

"Yeah, but what's the fun of a ship that can go anywhere in time and space if the ride wasn't hectic?" I laughed, bumping into the Doctor as I ran around, trying to reach for a switch. We landed and slowly headed out.

We were parked in a corner of a party, unnoticed by any of the people in the room.

"Oh no, don't. Stop it. Simply not true. Tiny. The beaches were so dismal, and the mosquitoes were..." A familiar voice said as we walked out. I glanced over to see a blonde woman, the younger Cassandra, probably 47 or so facial surgeries prior to the one that walked out of the TARDIS.

"Thank you." Our version of Cassandra said, looking around with wide, grateful eyes.

"Just go. And don't look back." The Doctor said, turning her towards her young self.

"You'll do fine." I reassured her.

"Good luck." Rose said. Cassandra nodded to the three of us, and started walking towards her younger self.

"And if you actually see them, you're shocked. But don't quote me on that. Oh, naughty. À bientôt!" The young Cassandra laughed with the group of people around her.

"Excuse me, Lady Cassandra." Cassandra said, getting the attention of her younger self.

"I'm sorry, I don't need anything right now. I'm fine, thank you." She said, thinking she was a server.

"No, I just wanted to say you look beautiful."

"Well, that's very kind, you strange little thing." She said, trying to find the right words. "Thank you very much."

"I mean it. You look so beautiful." She said.

"Thank you." Cassandra smiled. The Cassandra that was inside Chip's body collapsed, eyes closing, and body relaxing. I heard Rose suck in a breath from next to me. "Oh, my Lord. Are you all right?" Cassandra asked, holding the lifeless body in her arms. "What is it? What's wrong? Someone get some help! Call a medic or something, quickly!"

"Who is he?" Someone asked.

"I don't know. He just came up to me. I don't even know his name. He just collapsed. I think he's dying. Someone do something! I've got you, sweetheart. It's all right. There you are. There you are, I've got you. It'll be all right. There, there, you poor little thing."

"Come on." The Doctor said, touching my arm and guiding me and Rose into the TARDIS, seeing that we were distressed. We walked back in and flew off into the Time Vortex.


	7. "You call this lunch?"

Several days after visiting New Earth, I was still traveling with Rose and this version of the Doctor. During this time, I have to admit, I found my self being pulled more towards the Doctor. This might have been for several reasons, it could be the fact that I was still pretty new to being back in my body; or the fact that this was the first time since I "came back" that I had really had any time with the Doctor when we weren't running away from infected people, or trying to stop an overactive auto pilot.

What ever it was, what ever the cause was, I sort of liked it.

"Have you updated your journal yet?" The Doctor asked me as we tinkered under the console unit in the TARDIS.

"I have, have you?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Eh..." He trailed.

"Oh come on!" I exclaimed. "It's pointless if I keep a journal if you don't too!"

He turned to me, looking away from the mass of wires we were working on. "You know, you look cute when you scrunch your nose up like that." He smiled.

My face went bright red and my eyes widened. "Doctor!"

Before he was able to say anything else, a third voice came ringing through the console room.

"Doctor, Ester?" Rose asked. "You in here?" I looked through the grating above our heads and saw Rose walking towards the console.

"Right here." The Doctor and I chorused. She looked at her feet and saw the two of us under the grating.

"Oh, hello there." She said, smiling. I gave her a little wave with my free hand as a response. "What are we doing for lunch?" She asked.

"That's a good question." I said, looking towards the Doctor.

"Well, we could go for food if the two of you want." He offered.

"Sounds good to me, Rose?"

"Sure." She agreed.

"Well there we have it." I grinned up at Rose through the grating. "We'll go as soon as this mess is sorted." I said motioning to the wires.

"Eh." The Doctor said. "These can wait a short trip." He slid out from under the grating to get back on his feet. He reached a hand down to help me up form under the grating, which I greatly accepted.

"You sure she'll be fine?" I asked, running a hand over the TARDIS's console unit.

"Yeah." He said, waving a hand in an airy fashion. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you doubting me? Is that doubt I see on your face?" He questioned, turning to Rose. "She's doubting me." He said, feigning hurt.

"Fine! We can go. No doubt here. Never any doubt." I mocked, causing Rose to laugh. The Doctor smiled at me before pulling a lever, sending us into flight. I sat with Rose on the jump seat instead of running about the unit.

"Might as well go to 21st century London. Gotta drop Ester off there next anyway." He said, pushing buttons and flipping switches. "You gonna give me a hand or two?" He asked, looking at me sitting next to Rose.

"Nope, if we end up in the wrong time period, then it's gonna be entirely on you." I said, laying my head on Rose's shoulder.

"Ooh, got Ester sitting out on the flying, this is gonna be  _real_ interesting." Rose said.

"I can fly my ship with out Ester." The Doctor protested. "I do it plenty of times." He huffed.

" _Our_  ship." I corrected him.

"Yeah, still. I can fly her just fine." He said, grabbing a mallet to hit the console when it started making an odd noise.

"Sure sounds like it." Rose laughed.

After a bumpier flight than normal, we landed in London, and the three of us went out of the TARDIS to the same spot in which Rose and I stepped into the TARDIS for the first time.

"See, told you I could do it on my own." He huffed, crossing his arms and leaning against the TARDIS.

"Good job, 900 years and you can finally fly her!" I laughed.

"Oh, like you could do better." He scoffed.

" _I_ passed my flying test." I countered.

"Alright." Rose interrupted right before the Doctor could say anything else. "As interesting and entertaining it is to watch the two of you bicker, we came here for food; so let's get some."

"Wanna go to that little shop close to where Hendrik's used to be?" I asked.

"Sure, come on Doctor." Rose said, linking her arm with mine as we headed to the shop, the Doctor following close behind us.

***  
  


"You can't be serious."

"Out of all the food you could have gotten there?"

"We got fish and chips and you got a  _banana_?"

"You call this lunch?"

"No wonder you're all skin and bones, you don't eat anything!"

"Would the two of you stop hounding me if I ate a chip?" The Doctor asked through a mouthful of banana.

The three of us were sat at a table outside the shop, me and Rose with two foam shell containers of food, and the Doctor with a banana of all things.

"Maybe more than one."

"But we'd feel better, yes." I said. I opened the foam shell and offered him some of my food. "I normally can't finish all of this any way." I said, taking a chip for myself.

"You two are going to be the death of me." He sighed, plucking a chip from the container.

"Bollocks." Rose laughed. "You wouldn't be alive if me and Ester weren't around." She countered with a smirk on her face.

"Aw come on then." I said, nodding to the chip in his hand. "Or is the Oncoming Storm, the Defender of the Universe, too scared to eat a chip offered to him by two Tyler girls?" I laughed, poking fun at him.

"Technically you're not a-"

"Just eat the bloody chip!" Rose interrupted. The Doctor looked offended, and I was sitting next to him, laughing into my hand.

He huffed, giving in and eating the chip, glaring at me and Rose. "Happy?" He asked once he swallowed it.

"Very." We said, small smiles on our faces.

"Good, don't expect it ever again." He said, going back to finish his banana.

"Oh come on Doctor." I said, eating some of my own food. "It wasn't that bad, and you know it. You just like to be stubborn."

"No, I just happen to like bananas." He countered. "Banana's are good, those  _things_  are not." He pointed to our two foam shells of food.

"Fine, be that way." I said, not looking to start another debate.

"I will."

"You're worse than a child." I snapped back at him.

"You love it."

I raised an eyebrow at this. I was about to respond, but Rose cleared her throat, and the both of us turned to look at her. "Now that you've both stopped acting like children-"

_"Hey!"_

_"He's the child!"_

"As I was saying!" Rose exclaimed, stopping us from going on any longer. "Do you have any idea where Ester's supposed to be dropped off?" She said, looking at the Doctor. "I saw her pass you a slip of paper before she left, did it have coordinates on it by chance?"

I noticed how his face got just a tad bit redder. "Oh, yeah, coordinates. Coordinates! That what that was." He nodded.

"Well..." I trailed, looking at him.

He blinked a couple times. "What?"

"Where are you supposed to drop me off?" I asked.

"Exactly where we parked the TARDIS." He said, sitting back in his chair.

"Oh, well that's convenient, isn't it? Looks like we picked the right place for lunch, Rose." I said with a smile.

"Seems like it." She agreed.

We went on with our small talk while we finished our food, and soon we were back to the TARDIS.

"Bye Ester." Rose said, squeezing the life out of me.

"See you soon, I hope." I laughed as I hugged her back.

"Come here you." I said, motioning to the Doctor once Rose had let go. "Don't have too much fun without me, hey?" I said once I had my arms around his lanky self.

"Wouldn't even think of it." He said, pulling me close to him. "You don't go off having too much fun without me either, okay?"

"Deal." I laughed, breaking away from his hug and regretting it as soon as I did.

"Bye." I waved one last time at the two of them walked into the TARDIS, leaving me in the ally way by our flat. The TARDIS disappeared and within five seconds, it was back again.


	8. Aliens of London

Chapter 7 ***Aliens of London***

The TARDIS door creaked open and Rose and the leather jacket wearing Doctor walked out.

"Ester!" Rose exclaimed, seeing me and running towards me.

"Hey Rose." I laughed, hugging my little sister. "Hey Doctor." I said, smiling at him over Rose's shoulder.

"Ester." He nodded, a smile on his face. "Where are you?" He asked.

"I haven't seen you since I first opened the watch." I said, not sure if this version of him knew that I was traveling with the future versions of him. "Where are you two?" I countered.

"Not too long after that day." He said. "I assume you've been traveling then? How was it?" Well that clears things up.

"Well, if you know that, then you certainly know I can't spoil anything for you."

"Good then?"

"Fantastic, as always. You'll like them."

"I'm sure I will. Permission to hug?"

"Oh, as if you have to ask!"

His leather clad arms were wrapped around me and he picked me up, spinning me a little as I laughed.

"Have you been home yet?" Rose asked once I had both of my feet back on the ground.

"No, have you?" I asked.

"No. How long have we been gone?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"About twelve hours." He said

"Oh. Right, I won't be long. I just want to see my mum. You coming Ester?" She asked.

"Yeah, might as well, I could use a change of clothes." I said, wanting some of my own clothing for a change.

"What're you going to tell her?" The Doctor asked as me and Rose headed for the stairs to the flat.

"I don't know. I've been to the year 5 billion and only been gone, what, twelve hours? No, I'll just tell her we spent the night at Shareen's. See you later." Rose laughed. "Oh, don't you disappear!" She added.

"He won't if he knows what's good for him." I told her, giving the Doctor a look.

"I'll be here, don't you two worry." He promised. We ran up the familiar steps to the flat. Once we were at the top, I took my key out of my bag and unlocked the door, throwing it open as we walked in.

"We're back!" I called as we stepped in.

"We were with Shareen. She was all upset again. Are you in?" Rose called. We walked into the kitchen to find Mum, standing by the kitchen table which was covered with masses of papers, a cup of tea in her hands. "So, what's been going on? How've you been? What? What's that face for? It's not the first time either one of us has stayed out all night." Rose said. Mum looked at us like she'd just seen a ghost. She dropped her mug and it smashed on the ground. I got a proper look at the papers on the table and saw that they were missing person posters for me and Rose. Missing since March 6 2005. I took in a sharp breath, realizing what was going on."

"It's you." Mum said, not believing that we were really standing in front of her.

"Of course it's us." Rose said, not understanding.

"Oh, my God. It's you. Oh my God. My girls. My little girls. Oh my God." Mum said, hugging us both. In the midst of Mum hugging and crying, the Doctor burst through the door to our flat.

"It's not twelve hours, it's twelve months. You've been gone a whole year." He said. Mum let us go, giving the Doctor a look that could set a man on fire. My hearts were racing, unsure of what was going to happen to any of us. "Sorry." He said, meeting my eyes.

***

Mum called the police.  _The police_. She had Rose and I sat on the couch with the Doctor as far away from us as possible.

"The hours I've sat here, days and weeks and months, all on my own. I thought you were dead, and where were you? Travelling. What the hell does that mean, travelling? That's no sort of answer." Mum said to the two of us. The only thing I could think of at the moment was the probability of Mum finding out about me, the Time Lord daughter that she thought was normal. How she would react to having an alien as a daughter. "You ask them. They won't tell me. That's all they say.  _Traveling_." She told the police man.

"That's what we were doing." Rose said.

"When both of your passports still in the drawer? And Ester just runs off, dropping her school and job? It's just one lie after another." Mum said.

"We meant to phone. We really did. We just... We forgot." Rose said, trying to explain. I still couldn't wrap my mind around what could happen. Could I act like a human again? Would I slip up?

"What, for a year? You forgot for a year? And I am left sitting here. I just don't believe you. Why won't you tell me where you've been?" Mum cried.

"Actually, it's my fault. I sort of er, employed Rose and Ester as my companions." The Doctor said, speaking up.

"When you say companions, is this a sexual relationship in any way?" The police man said.

"No!" Me, Rose and the Doctor said together.

"Then what is it?" Mum demanded. "Because you, you waltz in here all charm and smiles, and the next thing I know, my daughters vanish off the face of the Earth! How old are you then? Forty? Forty five?" 900 give or take. "What, did you find them on the Internet? Did you go online and pretend you're a doctor?" Mum asked, getting in the Doctor's face.

"I am a Doctor." He responded.

"Prove it. Stitch this, mate!" Mum said, taking a swing at the Doctor and slapping him hard across the face.

"Mum!" I yelped, feeling a sting of pain shoot up the side of my face. "You can't just hit him!"

***

"Did you think about me at all?" Mum asked as the three of us sat in the kitchen. The Doctor had went off to blow some steam off somewhere.

"Of course we did. All the time, but-" I started.

"One phone call. Just to know that you were alive." Mum cried.

"We're sorry. We really are." Rose said.

"Do you know, what terrifies me is that you still can't say. Neither one of you. What happened to you two, Ester, Rose? What can be so bad that you can't tell me? Where were you?"

Oh yes, because it's just the easiest thing to explain to your mum that you've been having visions for years, were unknowingly disguised as a human, is now an alien Time Lady from the planet Gallifrey and that you've been traveling through time and space with your sister, three different versions of your best friend, and a feisty ginger in a box that's bigger on the inside. Easy.

***

"What am I supposed to do, tell her?" I sighed, leaning into the Doctor's shoulder as me, him and Rose sat on the roof of our flat. "Oh, hey Mum, I'm actually an alien, surprise!" I said sarcastically.

"Well, you could..."

"No, I really couldn't. She thought the visions stopped, she thought I was normal. I've been lying to her for 8 years." I sighed. "Not to mention the traveling bit. That's hard enough to explain to someone who understands technology; Mum can't work a VCR."

"We can't tell her. We can't even begin. She's never going to forgive us. And we missed a year." Rose agreed. "Was it good?" She asked.

"Middling." Was his response.

"You're so useless." Rose groaned.

"Well, if it's this much trouble, are you going to stay here now?"

"I don't know. I can't do that to her again, though." Rose said.

"I can't stay." I said. "Not any more. If I do, it's only a matter of time before someone finds out, until something leaks and then I'm a freak show on an operating table ready to be dissected."

"That's not going to happen." The Doctor shot back, sounding like he had a bitter taste in his mouth. "Not if I have anything to say about it." He grabbed my hand, trying to calm down my quick beating hearts. "Well, she's not coming with us." He eventually said after we sat in silence for a while.

"No chance."

"Absolutely not."

"I don't do families."

"But you've got me and Ester." Rose said.

"Well Ester isn't exactly a-"

"Yeah, but Rose is still my sister."

"Well, two Tyler's are enough for this TARDIS." He said, causing me and Rose to laugh in response.

"Besides the point, can we address the fact that Mum slapped you." I laughed.

Nine hundred years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother." The Doctor stated.

"Your face." Rose laughed.

"It hurt!" He cried.

"Oh come on, it couldn't have been that bad." I said, patting his arm.

"Wait, what do you mean when you say nine hundred years?" Rose asked.

"That's my age." The Doctor said.

"You're nine hundred years old." Rose said in complete disbelief.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"I'm about six hundred. But we were born the same year, that's time travel for you." I added, thinking about it for a minute.

"My mum was right. That is one hell of an age gap. Every conversation with you two just goes mental. There's no one else I can talk to. I've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and I can't say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things, and I'm the only person on planet Earth who knows they exist." Rose sighed.

I was about to respond, but the deep horn of a spaceship stopped me in my tracks. The three of us looked above us to see the spaceship head towards the city, a plume of black smoke following behind. It just missed some of the taller buildings, and weaved through others only to dive into the Thames, taking out the Clock Tower as it did so. I sat with my mouth hanging open and eyes wide as black smoke rose out of the distance.

"I don't think you're the only one on Earth that knows anymore, Rose." I said, finally able to muster words.

"Oh, that's just not fair." Rose groaned.

After a quick flight in the TARDIS, we were standing just outside the TARDIS in the city close to where the ship had crash landed. The area was closed off by the army, as expected.

"Just my luck." A man said from his car, his horn join in in the chorus of honking.

"Get back. Get back." A solider said, trying to re-direct the traffic jam.

"It's blocked off." The Doctor sighed, looking at the caution tape.

"We're miles from the centre. The city must be grid locked. The whole of London must be closing down." Rose said.

"I know. I can't believe I'm here to see this. This is fantastic!" The Doctor cheered.

"It really is, isn't it!" I said, just as excited.

"Did you know this was going to happen?" Rose asked us.

"Nope."

"Not at all."

"Do you recognise the ship?" She tried again.

"Nope."

"Not at all." I said, getting more and more excited.

"Do you know why it crashed?" She asked, her faith diminishing,

"Nope."

"Not at all."

"Oh, I'm so glad I've got you two." She said sarcastically.

"I bet you are." He said, a large grin on his face. He was starting to act more like the two older Doctors I traveled with, and less like the sad, lonely man that knocked on my flat door. "This is what we travel for, Rose. To see history happening right in front of us."

"And it's the best feeling in the world." I added, a wide grin on my face.

"Well, let's go and see it. Never mind the traffic, we've got the TARDIS." Rose reasoned.

"Better not." I told her. "They've already got one spaceship in the middle of London. We don't want to shove another one on top, let alone the greatest one there's ever been." I stroked the outside of the door getting a hum from her as a response.

"Yeah, but your's looks like a big blue box. No one's going to notice." Rose said.

"You'd be surprised. Emergency like this, there'll be all kinds of people watching. Trust me. Ester's right, the TARDIS stays where it is." The Doctor said.

"So history's happening and we're stuck here." Rose said slowly, putting the bits together.

"Yes, we are."

"Pretty much."

"We could always do what everybody else does. We could watch it on TV." Rose suggested.

***

"Big Ben destroyed as a UFO crash lands in Central London. Police reinforcements are drafted in from across the country to control widespread panic, looting and civil disturbance. A state of national emergency has been declared. Tom Hitchinson is at the scene." The reporter said.

"The police are urging the public not to panic. There's a help line number on screen right now if you're worried about friends or family. The army are sending divers into the wreck of the spaceship. No one knows what they're going to find." The flat was loud, and filled with people. The Doctor was sitting in an arm chair, and I was sitting on the arm or the seat. Rose was sitting in a chair next to us, watching the news as well. Mum came in the room, balancing three mugs of tea. She gave one to her friend Ru Chan, one to Rose, and one to me; completely ignoring the Doctor.

"I've got no choice." Mum said when I shot her look.

"You've broken your mother's heart." Ru chimed in.

"I'm not going to make him welcome." Mum explained.

"I cradled her like a child."

"Oi, I'm trying to listen." The Doctor said sternly to the two women, turning his attention to the TV.

"His current whereabouts. News is just coming in. We can go to Tom at the Embankment."

"They've found a body. It's unconfirmed, but I'm being told a body has been found in the wreckage. A body of non-terrestrial origins. It's being brought ashore."

"A body of some sort has been found inside the wreckage of the spacecraft."

***

"You want some tea?" I asked the Doctor when I came into the living room again a few hours later. I had been pulled into the kitchen by some neighbors who wanted to questioning, and after making up an alien-free story about visiting America, I was able to escape back to the Doctor, two cups of tea in hand. He was still sitting in the same spot, watching the screen as the events unfolded.

"No thanks." He said shortly.

"Come on, you've been sitting there for hours, at least drink something." I said, putting the cup on the side table next to him. "It's how you like it, or used to. Just milk." I said with a small smile. 

He looks up at me from the TV and returned my smile, accepting the cup of tea. "Thank you." He said after taking s sip. "Is it always like this here?" He asked, motioning to the noisy crowd around us.

I sighed, taking my seat on the arm of the chair once again. "It is whenever something big happens in the world. And what with me and Rose coming home and then the space ship, it just gives them all the more reason to come over and be loud."

"You don't like it then?" He asked. "I thought you knew all of these people."

"Yeah, they're fine for a while, but it's just draining. I would normally slip into my room and lock the door, the noise and commotion would bring on the visions." I said, lowering my voice on the last few words. "I wish I could do that now, actually." I sighed.

"Are you okay now? Those should have stopped when you opened the watch. If you have anything going on we need to go straight back to the TAR-" He rambled, looking over me, as if he was looking for a flashing sign that said ' _SICK_ ' or something.

"Doctor I'm fine." I said, grabbing a hold of one of his hands. "I'm just paranoid, that's all. I don't want certain people finding out about certain changes." I said, really hoping no one was listening in on our conversation.

"You know, sneaking off sounds pretty good right now." The Doctor offered, raising an eyebrow. "The TARDIS isn't far, we could watch this in there."

"As much as I would love too, I think someone would notice if we went missing." I sighed, leaning my head on his shoulder and turning my attention to the screen.

"Brought to the nearest shore. Unconfirmed reports say that the body is of extra-terrestrial origin. An extraordinary event unfolding here live here in Central London. The body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary, the whereabouts is yet unknown. The roads in Central London are being-" the channel switched to a baking show. I looked to the Doctor, wondering why he changed it to see he had a toddler in his lap, wrestling him for the remote.

"And when you've stuck your fins on, you can cover the whole lot in buttercream. Oh, look at that. Then ice it any color you want. Here's one I made a little bit earlier. And look at that, your very own spaceship ready to eat. And for something a little extra special -"

"Oh, there you are Tommy!" I said to the little boy, acting like I had been looking for him. He looked up at me, letting go of the remote. "Your mum was looking for you, she said something about a sweet?" I said, giving the boy a mischievous smile. His eyes widened and a grin broke out over his face. He jumped off the Doctor's lap and running off.

"Thank you." The Doctor said earnestly, turning the channel back to the news.

"Albion Hospital. We still don't know whether it's alive or dead. Whitehall is denying everything. But the body has been brought here, Albion Hospital. The road's closed off. It's the closest to the river. I'm being told that General Asquith is now entering the hospital. The building's been evacuated. The patients have been moved out onto the streets. The police still won't confirm the presence of an alien body contained inside those walls."

"Mystery still surrounds there whereabouts of the Prime Minister. He's not been seen since the emergency began. The opposition are criticising his lack of leadership, and. Hold on. Oh, that's Joseph Green, MP for Hartley Dale. He's Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on the monitoring of sugar standards in exported confectionary. With respect, hardly the most important person right now."

The Doctor was getting antsy, and the flat just got louder and more hectic.

"That offer to go back to the TARDIS still good?" I asked, having enough of the people in my flat.

"Always is." He responded with a grin.

"What if someone sees us?" I asked.

"We've gotten ourselves out of worst situations." He replied. "Wanna go?"

"Yeah." I nodded, a grin making its way to my face. After making sure no one was watching us, we slipped out of the room and out the door. We started making our way to the TARDIS, when we heard a voice behind us.

"And where do you think you're going?" Rose's voice chimed.

"Nowhere." I said. "It's just too loud in there, I was starting to get antsy." I explained. "And this one can't focus on the screen with all the noise." I said, pointing a finger towards the Doctor.

"History just happened and they're talking about where you can buy dodgy top-up cards for half price. We're off on a wander, that's all." He explained.

"Right. There's a spaceship on the Thames and you're just wandering." Rose said, not believing us.

"Nothing to do with us. It's not an invasion." The Doctor said.

"That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of descent, colour of smoke, everything. It's  _perfect_!" I enlightened.

"So?" She asked.

"So maybe this is it. First contact. The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. We're not interfering because you've got to handle this on your own. That's when the human race finally grows up. Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay. Now you can expand." The Doctor explained, his voice filled with excitement.

"Ester, you can't go." Rose said.

"Rose, we're coming back." I said, giving my sister a small smile.

"No, I mean you really  _can't_  go. Mum's looking for you." Rose said.

"Really?" I sighed, dreading going back to the hectic flat and risking Mum finding out that I was different.

"Hey, you'll be fine." The Doctor told me, looking into my eyes. "You don't need me. Go and celebrate history. Spend some time with your mum and sister."

"Be safe, okay?" I sighed.

"I told you, I'm not going anywhere."

"And I've known you since you were eight." I countered.

"Promise you won't disappear?" Rose asked.

"Tell you what. TARDIS key. It's about time you had one." He said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a TARDIS key and handing it to Rose. "Oh, and here's your old one, Ester." He said, handing me my old gold chain with a TARDIS key hanging on it. "See you two later." He said, turning on his heel and going to the TARDIS. I looked at the key in my hand and ran my finger over it, enjoying the feeling of finally having it back. I undid the clasp and put the chain around my neck, securing the clasp back in place. I tucked the key in my shirt and it fell right in between my hearts, where it belonged.

***

"Here's to the Martians!" Mum said, raising her glass.

"The Martians!" Everyone but me and Rose cheered, raising their glasses as well.

"They aren't  _Martians_." I scoffed quietly to Rose. "Martian ships look nothing like the one that's in the Thames."

Mickey came into the room and found Rose standing next to me.

"Crisis, with no head of state. Since the Royal Family have been evacuated-" The TV continued over the noise.

"I was going to come and see you." Rose said, seeing Mickey for the first time since we left with the Doctor.

"Someone owes Mickey an apology." Ru said.

"I'm sorry." Rose said to Mickey.

"Not you." Ru said, looking pointedly towards Mum.

"Well, it's not my fault. Be fair. What was I supposed to think?" Mum defended.

Mickey led Mum, Rose and I into the kitchen. "You two disappear, who do they turn to? Your boyfriend. Five times I was taken in for questioning. Five times. No evidence. Course, there couldn't be, could there? And then I get her, your mother, whispering around the estate, pointing the finger. Stuff through my letterbox, and all 'cos of you two." He said getting angry at me and Rose.

"We didn't think we'd be gone so long." I said, trying to calm him down.

"And I waited for you, Rose. Twelve months, waiting for you and Ester and the Doctor to come back." He said, turning to Rose.

"Hold on. You knew about the Doctor? Why didn't you tell me?" Mum said, outraged. Mickey looked around the kitchen before closing the door and the service window.

"Yeah, yeah. Why not, Rose? Ester? Huh? How could I tell her where you two went?" He questioned. I felt a lump form in my throat and I fought the urge to look down at my feet.

"Tell me now." Mum ordered.

"I might as well, 'cos you're stuck here. The Doctor's gone. Just now. That box thing just faded away." My eyes widened. No, he wouldn't have just left us. Not without saying...

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, wide eyed as well.

"He's left you. Some boyfriend he turned out to be." Mickey taunted.

"He's not my boyfriend." Rose said, running out of the flat.

"You better check your facts before you open your big mouth next time, right mate?" I said sarcastically, running after her.

"He wouldn't just go, he promised me." Rose said, staring at the empty space in disbelief.

"He'll come back." I said quietly to her. "He always will, he's never left me for more than a few hours."

"Yeah, but you're different, Ester. You don't see it, but he looks at you differently. He feels differently about you." Rose sighed. "You can just go off where ever you go in between what you do with me and him, but I can't cause I'm not you."

"Rose Tyler, don't you ever think that way ever again." I said sternly, trying to stay quiet as I saw Mum and Mickey running down the stairs. "You are just as important to him, if not more. I leave and you still stay with him. That's important.  _You're important_. You're one of his best friends. I know he has a terrible way of showing it, but you mean the world to him."

"Oh, he's dumped you, Rose. Sailed off into space. How does it feel, huh? Now you are left behind with the rest of us Earthlings. Get used to it." Mickey said, really testing my nerves.

"He would have said." Rose said.

"He's coming back, he's not leaving either one of us here, not if I have anything to say about it." I said.

"What're you three chimps going on about? What's going on? What's this Doctor done now?" Mum asked, finally getting to the three of us.

"Ho, ho, ho. He's vamoosed." Mickey laughed.

"He's not, because he gave me this." Rose said, holding up her TARDIS key. "He's not my boyfriend, Mickey. He's better than that. He's much more important than-" She was cut off by the sounds of the TARDIS materializing, and I felt the key grow warm where it sat against my shirt. I looked to Rose and we shared a grin.

"He's vamoosed, has he?" I asked Mickey, who looked completely shocked.

"I said so!" Rose cried. " _Mum_! Mum, go inside."

"Mum, don't stand there, just go inside." I said, trying to reason with her, my heart rate increasing.

"Just, Mum, go. Oh, blimey." The TARDIS landed, and Mum saw. I threw caution to the wind and ran towards the ship, throwing the doors open and running to the Doctor, who was looking at a monitor and fiddling with a dial. I ran to him and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him close to him.

"Well then." He said, cautiously putting his arms around me. "You okay?"

"Never do that again, okay? Not without me knowing." I said into his shoulder. "Sorry." I apologized after I regained my composer. "Today's been a long day." I said, looking at his jumper.

"Don't apologize, you have every right to be a bit on edge." He said, meeting my eyes with his blue ones.

"Thanks." I smiled up at him.

"Okay, so I went and had a look. But the whole crash landing's a fake. I thought so. Just too perfect. I mean, hitting Big Ben. Come on, so I thought let's go and have a look-" He started, his arms still around me before Rose cut him off.

"My mum's here." She said, and like that, I turned around, now out of his arms, to find Rose, my mum, and Mickey standing in our ship.

"Oh, that's just what I need. Don't you dare make this place domestic." He sighed, going back to messing with his dials.

"Oh, so he isn't Rose's boyfriend, he's Ester's! This is grand!" Mickey laughed bitterly. Before I could protest, he turned to the Doctor, and started talking again. "You ruined my life, Doctor. They thought the two of them were dead. I was a murder suspect because of you."

"You see what I mean? Domestic." The Doctor said, turing to me.

"I bet you don't even remember my name." Mickey said.

"Ricky." The Doctor said.

"It's Mickey."

'No, it's Ricky."

"I think I know my own name!"

"You think you know your own name? How stupid are you?"

I looked over to Mum, who looked scared out of her wits. Before I knew it, she was running out of the TARDIS.

"Mum, don't! Don't go anywhere. Don't start a fight!" Rose called, going after Mum. I didn't have the energy to go after her. I slumped on the jump seat and sighed, putting my head in my hands.

"That was a real spaceship." Rose said, back in the TARDIS.

"Yep." Me and the Doctor said.

"So it's all a pack of lies? What is it, then? Are they invading?" Rose asked.

"Funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert." Mickey said.

"Good point! So, what're they up to?" The Doctor asked.

"You know, that is the first smart thing I've heard you say all day." I said dryly to Mickey, trying not to think about Mum.

***

A short amount of time later, me and the Doctor were under the grating of the console, messing with some wires.

"So, what're you doing down there?" Mickey asked us.

"Ricky." The Doctor started.

"Mickey." He corrected.

"Ricky. If I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of our frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?" He asked.

"I suppose not."

"Well, shut it, then." The Doctor said.

"Some friend you've got." Mickey said to Rose as me and the Doctor kept working.

"He's winding you up. I am sorry." She told him.

"Okay."

"I am, though."

"Every day, I looked. On every street corner, wherever I went, looking for a blue box for a whole year!" He exclaimed.

"It's only been a few days for me. I don't know. It's, it's hard to tell inside this thing but I swear it's just a few days since I left you." Rose explained.

"Not enough time to miss me, then?"

"I did miss you."

"I missed you."

"Sister in the room!" I yelled out in a sing-song tone when things between then started to seem more romantic than I would like. Ha. Take that Mickey. The Doctor nodded at me and gave me a high five, approving my actions.

"So, er, in twelve months, have you been seeing anyone else?" I could practically hear the blush in Rose's voice from my little interruption.

"No."

"Okay."

"Mainly because everyone thinks I murdered you and your sister."

"Right."

"So, now that you've come back, are you going to stay?" He asked.

"Got it! Ha, ha!" The Doctor examined after we connected a few wires. "Patched in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of that spaceship." He explained to the two humans. He gave me a hand and helped me up from under the grating. "Here we go. Hold on. Come on." He said, waiting for the monitor to reboot,

"That's the spaceship on its way to Earth, see?" He said, pointing to the moving shape on the screen. "Except. Hold on. See? The spaceship did a sling shot round the Earth before it landed."

"What does that mean?" Rose asked.

"It means it came from Earth in the first place." I explained. "It went up and came back down. Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived, they've been here for a while. The question is, what have they been doing?" I explained, ignoring the weird look Mickey gave me.

***

"How many channels do you get?" Mickey asked as he and Rose flipped through the channels on the monitor as I wrote in my journal, spilling my worries across the page in black ink.

"All the basic packages." The Doctor responded.

"You get sports channels?"

"Yes, I get the football. Hold on, I know that lot." He said, halting their flipping. I looked up from my journal to see some very familiar faces.

"It is looking likely that the Government's bringing in alien specialists - those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space." The woman on the TV explained.

"UNIT. United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Good people." The Doctor said, I nodded in agreement.

"How do you two know them?"

"'Cos he's worked for them. Oh yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet or in the history books, and there's his name, followed by a list of the dead. Although, the name Teacher came up a lot too. Looks like you two weren't the first Rose." Mickey said. "What happened to her, eh Doctor? She die too? Or did she-"

" _Stop it_!" I screeched, cutting him off dead in his tracks. "You wanna know who the Teacher is? Well you're looking right at her, and I suggest you stop right now before you have one angry Time Lady going after your sorry self until you can't run anymore." I said in a low, deadly tone, standing millimeters away from him. My hearts were beating out of my cheat, and blood was running hot through my veins. If it were any other day, I probably would have thought my little out burst was irrational, but after everything I had been putting up with that day, I wasn't going to let Mickey say one more thing that would have hurt the Doctor, even if he didn't show it. And honestly, it felt really go to let off some of what I'd been holding in.

I cleared my throat, looking at the shocked expression on Mickey's face before turning to Rose. "Yes Rose."

"If you know them, why don't you two go and help?" She said warily, looking at me as if I was possibly going to blow again.

"They wouldn't recognize us. We've changed a lot since the old days. Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep these aliens out of the mix. I'm going undercover. And er, I'd better keep the TARDIS out of sight. Ricky, you've got a car. You can do some driving." The Doctor said, flipping a few switches.

"You-you converted her or something?" Mickey stuttered, wide eyed. "She was normal before you came along!" He yelled at the Doctor.

"Don't bother trying to understand it." I said. "Oh, and you are going to drive us, aren't you?" I said in a sickly sweet tone.

"Where to?"

"The roads are clearing. Let's go and have a look at that spaceship." The Doctor said with a grin, heading towards the doors. I followed him, exiting the TARDIS just behind him. We stepped right into a blinding spotlight and we were surrounded by police with their guns pointed at us.

"Do not move! Step away from the box and raise your hands above your heads." A man ordered us.

"Well so much for that plan." I sighed, raising my arms so my hands were able to be seen by the officers.Rose was next to me, and I couldn't find Mickey. I was sure to shut the door to the TARDIS with my foot, taking the cautionary step so no one would be able to just walk in.

"Rose! Ester!" Mum yelled, running towards us, but a solider grabbed her, stopping her in her path.

"Ester! Rose!"

"Raise your hands above your head. You are under arrest." A police man repeated.

"Take me to your leader." The Doctor grinned.

"If it wouldn't get me shot, I would definitely slap you right now." I said to him.

"Oh come on, don't act like you never wanted to say that." He laughed.

***

"This is a bit posh. If I knew it was going to be like this, being arrested, I would have done it years ago." Rose said when we were sat in the very nice police car, heading to 10 Downing Street.

"We're not being arrested, we're being escorted." The Doctor explained.

"Where to?" She asked.

"Where'd you think? Downing Street." I said with a smirk on my face.

"You're kidding." Rose exclaimed, very excited. "It's she right?" She asked the Doctor.

"Spot on." He answered, nodding to me.

"10 Downing Street?"

"That's the one."

"Oh, my God." She laughed. "I'm going to 10 Downing Street? How come?"

"I hate to say it, but Mickey was right. Over the years we've visited this planet a lot of times, and we've been, er, noticed." The Doctor said.

"Now they need you?" She asked.

"Like it said on the news. They're gathering experts in alien knowledge. And who are the biggest experts of the lot?" I asked.

"Patrick Moore?" She answered. My ego was deflated a little.

"Apart from him." The Doctor said, feeling the same as I was.

"Oh, don't you just love it." Rose said.

"I'm telling you. Lloyd George, he used to drink me under the table. Who's the Prime Minister now?" The Doctor asked.

"How should I know? I missed a year!" Rose exclaimed. We pulled up to 10 Downing Street and the Doctor opened his door, sliding out of the car, followed by me and Rose. We were walking through the crowd of reporters, and the Doctor smiled towards the cameras, angling his head a different way for each camera we passed.

"Oh, my God." Rose groaned when she noticed this, I just laughed and kept a small smile on my face.

We walked into the main lobby of the building to find that it was full of government officials waiting outside a conference room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, can we convene? Quick as we can, please. It's this way on the right, and can I remind you ID cards are to be worn at all times." A man standing by the door to the conference room said. We started shuffling to the room, and once we got to the door, the man started to pass out ID cards to the people who were allowed in the room. Once we got to the door, the man handed a card to the Doctor, but not to me and Rose.

"Here's your ID card. I'm sorry, your companions don't have clearance."

"Oh come on now." I said. "You know who I am. If you've done any back ground on him, then you're bound to know who I am." He looked at me as if I was making this up. "Ever heard of the Teacher? The Doctor's constant companion?" I asked him. His eyes went wide. "Yeah, that's me. Turns out I didn't just drop off the face of the Universe." The man quickly wrote "The Teacher" on a blank ID card and handed it to me.

"Here you go." He said, handing it to me. "I'm sorry, but your other companion can't come in."

"We don't go anywhere without her." The Doctor protested.

"You're the code nine, not her. I'm sorry, Teacher, Doctor. She'll have to stay outside." The man said.

"She's staying with us." I said, pulling her close to my side.

"Look, even I don't have clearance to go in there. I can't let her in and that's a fact." The man said.

"It's all right. You go." Rose told us before we started a fight. We nodded to her, and with a sigh from me, started heading into the room, leaving Rose.

"Excuse me. Are you the Doctor?" A woman said from behind us.

"Sure." He said to the older woman.

"Not now. We're busy. Can't you go home?" The man groaned.

"I just need a word in private." She insisted.

"I suppose so. Don't get in any trouble." The Doctor told her. He then turned and walked into the conference room, me following him.

***

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention, please. As you can see from the summaries in front of you, the ship had one porcine occupant." A professional looking man said, starting the conference.

"Of course, the really interesting bit happened three days ago, see, filed away under Any Other Business." The Doctor said, cutting in and getting his voice heard. "The North Sea. A satellite detected a signal, a little blip of radiation, at one hundred fathoms, like there's something down there. You were just about to investigate and the next thing you know, this happens. Spaceships, pigs, massive diversion. From what?" He asked. He then looked to me, wanting me to continue.

"If aliens fake an alien crash and an alien pilot, what do they get? Us. They get us. It's not a diversion, it's a trap." I explained.

"This is all about us. Alien experts. The only people with knowledge how to fight them gathered together in one room." The Doctor continued. He opened his mouth to say more, when a man let out a nasty fart.

"Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm saving the world?" The Doctor asked him, absolutely appalled.

"Would you rather silent but deadly?" The man asked.

"The country is being invaded and you're making fart jokes?" I asked him, disgusted.

The General undid a zip on his forehead, removing what just have been a skin suit. One of the large men laughed as the room filled with blue light and several large people unzipped them selfs from their skin suits. The green aliens stood almost 8 feet tall, and had large black eyes.

"We are the Slitheen." The general said, motioning to his fellow aliens.

"Thank you all for wearing your ID cards. They'll help to identify the bodies." The farting man said. My eyes went wide, ready to fight if I had to. He held up a remote and flipped a switch, sending electric shocks to everyone in the room, including the Doctor and I.


	9. World War Three

All I could feel was white hot pain as the electricity ran its way through my veins. It would have been so easy to just let go, to stop fighting the impending darkness that was taunting me with its promise of peace.

Oh, it would have been so easy.

But I didn't.

I had too much to go on for to simply let go now. Rose was in this building. My mum was on this planet, not far from where the aliens were. The Doctor was next to me, being electrocuted as well; and that thought pained me almost as much as my own electrocution.

I mustered up enough strength to bring my hands to the cord the the ID tag was hanging on and I ripped it off of my neck, stopping the electric pluses from running to my body. I pushed myself off the ground with the help of a chair, and picked the tag up by the cord. I looked to the Doctor who had just ripped his own card off too.

"Deadly to humans, maybe." He said, looking to me and I instantly knew what he was planing on doing. We both ran up to Green, and pressed the cards to the black collar that was around his neck, sending the electricity to him, and the other Slitheen in the room. Needless to say they didn't appreciate it, and the Doctor and I ran out of the conference room.

"Oi!" I yelled in the hall, getting the officers' attention. "If you want aliens, you've got them. They're inside Downing Street. Come on!" I yelled, running back with the Doctor into the conference room, the police following us.

"Where have you been? I called for help. I sounded the alarm. There was this lightening, this kind of, er, electricity, and they all collapsed." Green said, back in his skin suit. I let out a small sigh, adrenalin still pumping through my body. We stood by the door as the policemen checked the bodies.

"I think they're all dead." The Sargent said.

"That's what I'm saying. They did it! That man and the woman there." Green exclaimed, pointing to us.

"I think you will find the Prime Minister is an alien in disguise." The Doctor said.

"That's never going to work, is it?" I asked, seeing the faces of disbelief looking back at us.

"No." One of the officers said.

"Fair enough." I said. The Doctor grabbed my hand and we bolted out of the door and into the corridor, where we became trapped between two crews of armed police.

"Under the jurisdiction of the Emergency Protocols, I authorize you to execute these two." One of the Slitheen in a skin suit said.

"Well, now, yes, you see, er, the thing is, if I was you, if I was going to execute someone by backing them against the wall, between you and me, little word of advice." The Doctor said. I moved one of my hands against the wall until I found what I was looking for. Once I pushed the button, there was a ding and the lift doors opened.

"Don't stand them against the lift!" I laughed as we quickly got in and soniced the doors shut, going up.

"You alright?" He asked me as the lift was on its way up to the first floor.

"Yeah, I'm fine, you?" I asked.

"Never better." He said with a grin. The lift doors opened to show a Slitheen, with Rose and an older woman behind him.

"Hello!" The Doctor said waving the the alien, distracting it so Rose and the woman could slip past into the lift. Again, the doors were soniced shut.

"You okay?" I asked Rose after giving her a hug, checking her over for injuries.

"I'm fine Ester." Rose said lightly.

"We're getting off at the next floor, Ester." The Doctor said, pushing the button that would send us to the second floor.

"Got it." I nodded to him. "You be safe, alright? Don't get into too much trouble." I told Rose.

"I should be the one telling you two that, not the other way around." Rose laughed.

"I think the Doctor and I have enough years between us to watch our own backsides." Rose scoffed at this. "Oi! Just be safe." I said, as the lift dinged, signaling that we were on the second floor.

"See you soon." She said, giving me a final hug. The Doctor and I left the lift and ran down the nearest staircase, going back to the first floor. We heard something coming, and the two of us quickly shoved ourselves into a supply closet.

"It does us good to hunt. Purifies the blood." The voice of Green said.

"We'll keep this floor quarantined as our last hunting ground before the final phase." Another said. I held my breath as they passed, my back pressed up against the Doctor's front. I tried not to focus on the last bit, but my face might have gone a tad bit darker at the fact. I waited until I was completely sure they were gone before I exhaled.

"What are we going to do?" I whispered. "We have no idea how many of them there are, and we don't have the TARDIS."

"No idea." He said. He the reached behind him for two fire extinguishers. "But these could be a start." He said.

I craned my neck to look at him behind me. "Oh you're absolutely brilliant, you know that?"

"You might have said that once or twice." He smirked.

***

We wandered around Downing Street, trying to find anymore information on the creatures that could lead us to figuring out what they were. If we were able to find that out, the Doctor and I could easily come up with a plan to get them off the planet. We were following one, when we heard the screams of two women.

"Doctor, that could be Rose." I said, my eyes wide with fear. We ran towards the noise, getting to the door to where they were.

"No! Take me first! Take me!" The woman yelled. I tried the door knob to find it stuck. I gained my strength and with a quick blow, I was able to kick the door in. We burst in and sprayed the Slitheen with the fire extinguishers.

"Out, with me!" The Doctor ordered. I looked over my shoulder to see Rose and the woman from the elevator.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked her, looking back to the alien.

"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North." Harriet responded.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ester and he's the Doctor." I said, still using the extinguisher.

"Likewise." She said. Eventually, we used up all of the CO2 in the extinguishers and the four of us ran out of the room before the alien could regain its senses.

"We need to head to the Cabinet Room." The Doctor exclaimed as we ran.

"The Emergency Protocols are in there. They give instructions for aliens." Harriet said.

"Harriet Jones, I like you." I grinned at her.

"And I like you too." She nodded, a grin on her face too. I sped up my pace when I hear the Slitheen behind us.

Eventually we made it to the Cabinet room, where the Doctor grabbed a container of Alcohol and stood in the doorway with his sonic screwdriver pointed at the container. "One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof, we all go up." He threatened. "So back off." The Slitheen took a step back, not wanting to push him. "Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?" He asked.

"They're aliens." Harriet said.

"Yes. I got that, thanks." The Doctor said.

"Who are you, if not human?" The Slitheen said in a voice I recognized, this must have been Green.

"Who's not human?" Harriet and Rose.

"They aren't human." Rose answered.

"They aren't human?" She asked.

"Can I have a bit of hush?" The Doctor asked.

"Sorry."

"So, what's the plan?" The Doctor asked Green.

"But he's got a Northern accent." Harriet said.

"Lots of planets have a north." I said, trying to get her to hush up.

"I said hush. Come on. You've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government. What for, invasion?" The Doctor asked.

"Why would we invade this God-forsaken rock?" A second Slitheen asked.

"Then something's brought the Slitheen race here. What is it?" I asked the two.

"The Slitheen race?" The second one laughed.

"Slitheen is not our species. Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer-Day-Slitheen at your service." Green greeted.

"So, you're family." I said.

"A family business."

"Then you're out to make a profit. How can you do that on a God-forsaken rock?" I quoted.

"Ah, excuse me? Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability?" The alien asked the Doctor.

"Is that what I said?" He responded.

"You're making it up."

"Ah, well! Nice try." The Doctor sighed. "Harriet, have a drink. I think you're gonna need it." The Doctor said, passing the bottle to his right to Harriet, who was clutching the Red Box.

"You pass it to the left first." She corrected him.

"Sorry." He said, passing it to me.

"Don't mind if I do." I said, accepting it from him. I decided I deserved to take a swig, so I did and passed it to Rose.

"Thanks." She said, copping my actions and passing it to Harriet.

"Now we can end this hunt with a slaughter." One of the Slitheen said.

"Don't you think we should run?" Rose asked us.

"Fascinating history, Downing Street. Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mister Chicken. He was a nice man. 1796, this was the Cabinet Room. If the Cabinet's in session and in danger, these are about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain. End of lesson." I lectured. When I finished, the Doctor lifted a small panel by the dot and pressed a button, causing metal shutters to crash shit on all the windows and doors.

"Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in." I smirked, leaning against the wall, looking at Rose.

"And how do we get out?" Rose asked.

"Ah." The Doctor said.

"Now you just had to find the one flaw in this plan, didn't you." I sighed.

***

"What was his name?" The Doctor asked Harriet, dragging a skin suit and putting it in a closet with a second one.

"Who?" She asked, looking over to him.

"This one. The secretary or whatever he was called."

"I don't know. I talked to him. I brought him a cup of coffee. I never asked his name." She said, a sad look on her face.

"Sorry." He apologized. "Right, what have we got? Any terminals, anything?"

"No. This place is antique. What I don't get is, when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn't they use him as a disguise?" Rose asked.

"He's too slim." I explained. "You saw them, they're big old beasts. They need to fit inside big humans."

"But the Slitheen are about eight feet. How do they fit inside?" She asked.

"That's the device around their necks. Compression field. Literally shrinks them down a bit. That's why there's all that gas. It's a big exchange." I said.

"Wish I had a compression field. I could fit a size smaller." Rose mumbled.

"You don't need one." I told her. "You're perfect just they way you are."

"Excuse me, people are dead! This is not the time for making jokes." Harriet exclaimed over Rose's scoff.

"Sorry. You get used to this stuff when you're friends with the two of them." Rose said.

"Well, that's a strange friendship."

"Harriet Jones." The Doctor said, racking his mind for information. "I've heard that name before. Harriet Jones. You're not famous for anything, are you?" He asked her.

"Oh, hardly." She said.

"Rings a bell, doesn't it Ester? Harriet Jones?" He said.

"It does, I've definitely heard it somewhere." I agreed.

"Lifelong backbencher I'm afraid, and a fat lot of use I'm being now. The Protocols are redundant. They list the people who could help and they're all dead downstairs." She sighed, putting the file down on the table.

"Hasn't it got, like, defence codes and things? Couldn't we just launch a nuclear bomb at them?" Rose asked.

"You're a very violent young woman." Harriet said.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it." I laughed.

"I'm serious." Rose said. "We could."

"Well, there's nothing like that in here. Nuclear strikes do need a release code, yes, but it's kept secret by the United Nations." Harriet explained.

"Say that again." The Doctor said quickly, putting both his hands on the table.

"What, about the codes?" She asked.

"Anything. All of it." He rushed.

"Well, the British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a Special Resolution from the UN." She explained.

"Like that's ever stopped them." Rose explained.

"Exactly, given our past record. And I voted against that, thank you very much. The codes have been taken out of the government's hands and given to the UN. Is it important?"

"Everything's important." I told her.

"If we only knew what the Slitheen wanted. Listen to me. I'm saying Slitheen as if it's normal!" She exclaimed.

"What do they want, though?" Rose asked us.

"Well, they're just one family, so it's not an invasion. They don't want Slitheen World. They're out to make money. That means they want to use something. Something here on Earth. Some kind of asset." The Doctor trailed, thinking of the possible reasons.

"Like what, gold? Oil? Water?" Harriet suggested.

"You're very good at this." I nodded at her.

"Thank you."

"Harriet Jones. Why do I know that name?" He wondered.

"Oh, that's me." Rose said, reaching into her pocket when her phone buzzed.

"But we're sealed off. How did you get a signal?" Harriet asked.

"He zapped it. Super phone." Rose explained.

"Then we can phone for help. You must have contacts." Harriet said to me and the Doctor.

"Dead downstairs, yeah." The Doctor dead panned.

"It's Mickey." Rose told us.

"Oh, tell your stupid boyfriend we're busy." The Doctor told her.

"Yeah, he's not so stupid after all." She said, coming over to us with her phone in hand. She showed us the screen, and on it was a picture of a Slitheen.

***

"No, no, no, no, no. Not just alien, but like, proper alien. All stinking, and wet, and disgusting. And more to the point, it wanted to kill us!" Mickey exclaimed over the phone that was pressed to the side of Rose's head.

"I could've died!" I heard Mum yell.

"Is she all right, though? Don't put her on, just tell me." Rose asked, voicing my thoughts.

Then a thought struck me by surprise. If Mum was with Mickey... Would he had told her? Did she know? My two hearts felt like they were made of solid lead and my eyes went wide.

"Is that Ricky?" The Doctor said, taking the phone from Rose. "Don't talk, just shut up and go to your computer." He ordered.

"It's Mickey, and why should I?" Mickey questioned.

"Mickey the Idiot, I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but, er, I need you." The Doctor managed to say. He then guided him to the UNIT website and told him how to hack into it.

"It says password." Mickey said as the Doctor hooked the phone up to the conference phone speaker.

"Sorry?" I asked.

"It's asking for the password."

"Buffalo. Two Fs, one L." I recited.

"So, what's that website?" Mum asked. So far she hadn't said anything, so I hoped that she didn't know.

"All the secret information known to mankind. See, they've known about aliens for years. They just kept us in the dark." Mickey said.

"Mickey, you were  _born_  in the dark." The Doctor said, I fought the urge to laugh at this, but I hid my grin behind my hand instead.

"Oh, leave him alone." Rose ordered.

"Thank you. Password again Ester." Mickey said.

"How come Ester knows it?" Mum asked.

"It's in a file we found." I lied. At least she didn't know anything. "It's the same Mickey, just keep repeating it when ever it asks."

"Big Ben - why did the Slitheen go and hit Big Ben?" The Doctor asked aloud.

"You said to gather the experts, to kill them." Harriet said.

"That lot would've gathered for a weather balloon. You don't need to crash land in the middle of London." He said.

"The Slitheen are hiding, but then they put the entire planet on Red alert." Rose added. "What would they do that for?"

"Well they obviously don't want the rest of the world to know about themselves, but they must want the people to be distracted by the crash so they don't notice other things; the smaller things would get overshadowed in all the news." I thought aloud, trying to piece information together to form an answer. "It happens everyday, but what are they trying to hide?"

"Oh, listen to them." Mum sighed.

"At least we're trying!" Rose countered.

"Well, I've got a question, if you two don't mind. Since that man walked into our lives, I have been attacked in the streets. I have had creatures from the pits of hell in my own living room, and my daughters disappear off the face of the Earth." Mum argued.

"We told you what happened." Rose said.

"I'm talking to him. 'Cos I've seen this life of yours, Doctor. And maybe you get off on it, and maybe you think it's all clever and smart, but you tell me. Just answer me this. Are my daughters safe?" Mum asked. I closed my eyes and let out a quite breath, slumping in my chair and putting my head in my hands.

This wasn't safe. Nothing we ever did was safe. I knew that; the Doctor knew that. There was always the chance that each adventure would be our last. That never changed.

"We're fine." Rose said.

"Are they safe? Will they always be safe? Can you promise me that? Well, what's the answer?" Mum asked.

No. The answer would be no. I looked up and locked eyes with the Doctor. I could tell he was thinking about everyone we've lost. The ones we lost to death, the ones we lost to life, and the ones we just lost. Too many names and faces were on that list, and it didn't need another, let alone Rose's.

"We're in." Mickey said, and for once, I grateful for his interruption.

"Now then, on the left at the top, there's a tab, an icon. Little concentric circles. Click on that." The Doctor told him.

"What is it?" Mickey asked.

"The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea and it's transmitting that signal. Now hush, let me work out what it's saying." He said.

"He'll have to answer me one day." Mum said.

"Hush!" Mickey said.

"It's some sort of message." The Doctor said after listening to it for a few loops.

"What's it say?" Rose asked.

"Don't know. It's on a loop, keeps repeating." The Doctor said. I tried to work it out, but it wasn't like anything I had heard before and the TARDIS wasn't translating it for me. Our concentration was broken by the sound of a doorbell.

"Hush!" Me and the Doctor said.

"That's not me. Go and see who that is." Mickey said.

"It's three o'clock in the morning." Mum said.

"Well, go and tell them that."

"It's beaming out into space, who's it for?" I asked quietly.

"All right!" Mum said. Some silence lasted, until she yelled out again. "It's him! It's the thing, it's the Slipeen!" Mum said, butchering the creature's name.

"They've found us." Mickey exclaimed.

"Mickey, I need that signal." The Doctor said.

"The signal can wait a minute!" I exclaimed.

"Get out of there, Mum!" Rose added.

"We can't. It's by the front door. Oh, my God, it's unmasking. It's going to kill us." Mickey said.

"There's got to be some way of stopping them! You're supposed to be the expert, think of something!" Harriet exclaimed.

"I'm trying!" Me and the Doctor said at the same time.

"I'll take it on, Jackie. You just run. Don't look back. Just run." Mickey said, his words followed by the sounds of splintering wood.

"That's our mother." Rose told the Doctor, demanding that he did something.

"Right, If we're going to find their weakness, we need to find out where they're from. Which planet. So, judging by their basic shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance. What else do we know about them? Information!" The Doctor ordered.

"They're green."

"Yep, narrows it down."

"Good sense of smell."

"Narrows it down."

"They can smell adrenalin."

"Narrows it down."

"The pig technology."

"Narrows it down."

"The spaceship in the Thames, you said slipstream engine?"

"Narrows it down."

"It's getting in!" Mickey yelled.

"They hunt like it's a ritual."

"Narrows it down."

"Wait a minute." Harriet said. Did you notice? When they fart, if you'll pardon the word, it doesn't just smell like a fart, if you'll pardon the word, it's something else. What is it? It's more like, er..."

"Bad breath!" Rose exclaimed.

"That's it!"

"Calcium decay! Now, that narrows it down!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"We're getting there, Mum!" I reassured her through the phone.

"Too late!" Mickey yelled.

"Calcium phosphate. Organic calcium. Living calcium. Creatures made out of living calcium. What else? What else?" The Doctor rambled. "Hyphenated surname. Yes! That narrows it down to one planet." He said looking at me with a grin.

"Raxacoricofallapatorius!" We exclaimed together, large grins on our faces.

"Oh, yeah, great. We could write 'em a letter." Mickey said sarcastically:

"Get into the kitchen!" I ordered.

"My God, it's going to rip us apart!" Mum cried.

"Calcium, weakened by the compression field. Acetic acid. Vinegar!" The Doctor said.

"Just like Hannibal!" Harriet exclaimed.

"Just like Hannibal." I agreed. "Mickey, have you got any vinegar?" I asked him.

"How should I know?" He asked.

"It's  _your_  kitchen." I said face-palming.

"Cupboard by the sink, middle shelf." Rose recited.

"Oh, give it here." Mum said. "What do you need?"

"Anything with vinegar!" The Doctor and I said together.

"Gherkins. Yeah, pickled onions. Pickled eggs." Mum listed.

"And you kiss this man?" The Doctor asked Rose, his nose scrunched up.

Before she could respond, there was the sound of a door snapping off its hinges, immediately followed by the slosh of a liquid being thrown. There was a loud splat and then sounds of relief coming from Mum. I sighed as I felt my heart rate slow, finally able to know that they were safe.

"Hannibal?" Rose asked Harriet.

"Hannibal crossed the Alps by dissolving boulders with vinegar." Harriet explained.

"Oh. Well, there you go then." Rose laughed, pouring four glasses of wine from the container. We each grabbed one, and toasted.

***

A couple hours later, I was laying on the table on my back, tossing a paper ball up in the air. Rose was sitting with her head on the table, Harriet was still trying to piece all of this together, and the Doctor was still on the phone with Mickey.

"Listen to this." Mickey said.

"Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads and they have found massive weapons of destruction capable of being deployed within forty five seconds." A reporter on Mickey's end said.

"What?" Me and the Doctor asked. I sat straight up, the paper ball landing on the table next to me.

"Our technicians can baffle the alien probes, but not for long. We are facing extinction, unless we strike first. The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mother ship. I beg of the United Nations, pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes. A nuclear strike at the heart of the beast is our only chance of survival because from this moment on it is my solemn duty to inform you planet Earth is at war."

"He's making it up." The Doctor said, I nodded in agreement. "There's no weapons up there, there's no threat. He just invented it."

"Do you think they'll believe him?" Harriet asked.

"They did last time." Rose said.

"That's why the Slitheen went for that big show. They want the whole world panicking, because you lot, you get scared, you lash out." I explained.

"They release the defense code-" the Doctor said.

"And the Slitheen go nuclear." I finished.

"But why?" Harriet questioned.

The Doctor lifted the metal shutters on the doors, revealing one of the Slitheen. "You get the codes, release the missiles, but not into space because there's nothing there." He said to her.

"You attack every other country on Earth. They retaliate, fight back. World War Three. Whole planet gets nuked." I continued.

"And we can sit through it safe in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed, just parked. Only two minutes away." The female Slitheen said with a smirk.

"But you'll destroy the planet, this beautiful place. What for?" Harriet asked in disbelief.

"Profit. That's what the signal is beaming into space. An advert." The Doctor said.

"The sale of the century. We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it piece by piece. Radioactive chucks, capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Doctor. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel." The Slitheen laughed.

"At the cost of five billion lives." I glared at her.

"Bargain."

"I give you a choice." The Doctor told her. "Leave this planet or we'll stop you."

"What, you and that girl?" She asked, pointing at me. "Trapped in your box?" She laughed.

"Yes. Us." I said. I hit the button that controlled the metal shutters, shutting them on the Slitheen's laughing face.

I then turned to Rose and Harriet. "Either one of you know where she just went wrong?" I asked them.

"Nuclear weapons?"

"Thinking they can just come here and kill everyone?"

"Nope." I said, popping the 'p'. I looked over to the Doctor, who had a smirk on his face, knowing where I was going with this. "She just doubted me and the Doctor."

***

"If we could ferment the port, we could make acetic acid." Harriet thought aloud the next morning, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Mickey, any luck?" Rose sighed.

"There's loads of emergency numbers. They're all on voicemail." Mickey said.

"Voicemail dooms us all." Harriet sighed, the lack of sleep obviously getting to her.

"If we could just get out of here." Rose wished.

"There's a way out." The Doctor said, catching the attention of the other two women in the room.

"What?" Rose asked.

"There's always been a way out." I said, knowing where he was going with this.

"Then why don't we use it?" Rose asked.

"Because I can't guarantee your daughters will be safe." He said towards the phone, talking to Mum.

"Don't you dare." Mum said. "Whatever it is, don't you dare."

"That's the thing." The Doctor said. "If I don't dare, everyone dies." He said looking at me and Rose.

"You know my answer." I told him, knowing he remembered all the times we've been in situations like this. Putting our own lives on the line for the sake of others, part of the job.

"Do it." Rose told him.

"You don't even know what it is. You'd just let me?" He asked Rose, looking surprised.

"Yeah."

"Please Doctor. Please. They're my daughters. They're just kids." Mum pleaded.

"Do you think I don't know that? Because this is my life, Jackie. It's not fun, it's not smart, it's just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will." The Doctor said in a heated tone.

"Then what're you waiting for?" Rose asked.

"I could save the world but lose you." The Doctor said looking deep into my eyes, causing my hearts to flutter a little.

"Except it's not your decision, Doctor. It's mine." Harriet said. My eyes snapped to her, a confused look on my face.

"And who the hell are you?" Mum exclaimed.

"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. The only elected representative in this room, chosen by the people for the people." She explained. "And on behalf of the people, I command you. Do it." She said, looking to the Doctor.

"How do we get out?" Rose asked.

"We don't. We stay here." I said as the Doctor grabbed the Emergency Protocols from the Red Box.

"Use the buffalo password. It overrides everything." The Doctor told Mickey, flipping through the book.

"What're you doing?" Mum asked.

"Hacking into the Royal Navy. We're in. Here it is. HMS Taurean, Trafalgar Class submarine, ten miles off the coast of Plymouth." Mickey explained over the sound of clicking keyboard keys.

"Right, we need to select a missile." The Doctor said.

"We can't go nuclear. We don't have the defense codes."

"We don't need it." I said "Anything they have can blast this place high in the air. All we need's an ordinary missile. What's the first category?" I asked.

"Sub Harpoon, UGM-A4A." Mickey read.

"That's the one. Select." The Doctor nodded.

"I could stop you." Mum threatened.

"Do it, then." Mickey challenged, bringing a sad smile to my face.

"You ready for this?" The Doctor asked.

"Yeah." Mickey said.

"Mickey the idiot, the world is in your hands." The Doctor told him. "Fire." The Doctor ordered, looking into my eyes. We both knew that there was a very big chance that this wouldn't end well for the two of us, but we had both accepted that risk when we stepped into our TARDIS for the first time and ran off.

Mickey clicked the mouse, and the computer made a 'whoosh' sound. I took a deep breath and readied myself for whatever was bound to come of us.

"Oh, my God." I heard Mum whisper, the idea that she could lose both of her daughters when she'd just gotten them back obviously wasn't something that was sitting well with her.

"How solid are these?" Harriet asked, referring to the metal panels that made up the room.

"Not solid enough. Built for short range attack, nothing this big." The Doctor explained.

"All right, now I'm making the decision." Rose said. "I'm not going to die. We're going to ride this one out. It's like what they say about earthquakes. You can survive them by standing under a doorframe. Now, this cupboard's small so it's strong. Come and help me. Come on." Rose said, motioning for me and Harriet. My eyes went wide. It could help, we could make it. It was a small chance, a very small chance, but if Rose would be alright, I would try anything. Harriet and I went to help Rose empty the cupboard, placing its contents on the ground.

"It's on radar." Mickey said. "Counter defense five five six."

"Stop them intercepting it." The Doctor ordered.

"I'm doing it now."

"Good boy." The Doctor praised.

"Five five six neutralized."

I went over to the Doctor, the cupboard now empty. I wrapped my arms around him in a quick hug, which he happily returned. I hung up the phone call with Mum and Mickey, sparring them from hearing the explosion.

The four of us just managed to fit in the closet, my body pressed against Rose and the Doctor.

"Here we go. Nice knowing you all. Hannibal!" Harriet said when we heard the missile over head. 

The missile hit the building with a defining blast. The cupboard shook and rolled and eventually fell to the ground.

I opened my eyes, blinking a few times. "Is everyone alright?" I asked, getting grunts and groans from Rose, Harriet and the Doctor. "Great!" I laughed, not quite believing that we made it.

With the Doctor's help I was able to push the door off of us, and we climbed out onto the ruble that was 10 Downing Street.

"Made in Britain." Harriet said, looking in wonder at the little cupboard that could.

"Oh, my God. Are you all right?" A man exclaimed, coming over to us.

"Harriet Jones. MP, Flydale North. I want you to contact UN immediately. Tell the ambassadors the crisis is over. They can step down. Go on, tell the news." Harriet told the man.

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded, scurrying off.

"Someone's got a hell of a job sorting this lot out. Oh, Lord. We haven't even got a Prime Minister!" She exclaimed in shock.

"Maybe you should have a go." I suggested, the Doctor nodding in agreement.

"Me? Huh. I'm only a back-bencher." Harriet blushed.

"I'd vote for you." Rose told her.

"Now, don't be silly! Look, I'd better go and see if I can help. Hang on!" She said making her way out of the rubble and following the man. "We're safe! The Earth is safe!" She exclaimed.

"I thought I knew the name." The Doctor said. "Harriet Jones, future Prime Minister. Elected for three successive terms. The architect of Britain's Golden Age."

***

"You sure about this?" Rose asked as we stood outside our flat, getting ready to go in to Mum.

"Yeah, I need to tell her." I said. "She deserves to know."

The Doctor had gone back to the TARDIS, leaving me and Rose to talk to Mum.

I took in a deep breath, before I unlocked the door and walked in with Rose following me. Mum instantly attacked us with hugs and cries and the sort, and eventually we were able to calm her down.

"Mum." I told her, my hearts beating out of control. "I need to tell you something. Now it might be a little confusing at times, but just hear me out on this, please." I asked.

"What is it sweetheart? Are you sick? Hurt?" Mum said, looking concern.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just... Different." I said awkwardly. Great job Ester.

"You don't look different." She said.

"Just humor me and listen, yeah?" I asked. She sighed and sat back in her seat. "Okay. I'll guess I'll start at the beginning. In this galaxy, a millennium away from Earth, there was this beautiful planet called Gallifrey. It had two suns and a sky the color of burnt orange." I said with a sad smile as I remembered my home. "It had fields of red grass that would go on for miles. It was the most beautiful planet... And on Gallifrey, there were these people, Time Lords, who were in charge of protecting the laws of time. They were a great and proud race, who traveled through time and space in their ships. They looked human, but they had two hearts, lived for centuries, and had a brain that functioned at twice the speed." I explained. "And then there was me." At this point, Mum couldn't have looked more confused if she tried. "I was born on Gallifrey." I said slowly, watching her face for any reaction. "My father was a member of the High Council and my mother worked in the hospital. When I was eight years old, I was taken, like all children of Gallifrey, for initiation. We were told to look into this pit, the Untempered Schism, right into the heart of the Time Vortex. It hurt. It hurt a lot actually. And at eight years old, you can imagine what that would do. Some of us wanted to run, some of us went insane, and some of us were inspired, and wanted to see more of the universe, more of what was out there." I explained. "That was were I met the Doctor for the first time. Eight years old and taken from our families. We spent the next couple years at the Academy, where we quickly became friends. Fast forward a hundred years or so years, and the two of us started traveling in our TARDIS. Now, he had a family, an arranged marriage, and I was content with being single, and we just flew off in a TARDIS that had been stuck in a repair shop for years. We went everywhere." I said with a smile on my face, revisiting all of my old adventures. "And we traveled with friends, family members, and even a robot dog once." I laughed. "But then the war came. The Time War. Between the Time Lords and the Daleks for the control of time itself. It went on across the universe. Time was burning. Planets were destroyed, species were lost, and right in the middle of it, was our home. So many died..." I said sadly. My eyes glazed over and I felt a tear roll down my face. The sounds of screaming and lasers filled my head.

A hand was placed on top of mine and I looked down at it to see Rose's hand on mine. She gave me a sad smile before I continued.

"The battle just kept going on. It looked like it was never going to end, not well at least. My parents wanted to protect me, to save me. They didn't want me to be recognized so they forced me to regenerate, or change my face. They then used this piece of equipment and put my Time Lord self into a FOB watch." I said, messing with the watch that still hung from my neck on a chain. "I didn't remember anything about my previous life, it made up a past for me, and I was left at the hospital here on the day that the supposed car crash happened." I said, looking at Mum. "You brought me in, obviously, and I was living as a human, not knowing anything else, for eight years. While this was happening, the war ended. The Doctor ended it, saving the universe. But to end it, he had to destroy Gallifrey, destroy our home and our people, the Daleks along with it. And he was all alone. Do you remember those vision things I used to have?" I asked her. She nodded. "Yeah, well the medication never worked. I kept having them."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Mum asked.

"Because I was afraid. I didn't want you to think I was odd, or strange, or to be put in foster care because of it. I didn't want to be thought of as a nut case!" I said. I took a calming breath before I continued. "So I kept having the visions, and I wrote everyone of them down in my journal. They were all bits and pieces of my old life. My adventures, my loved ones, the war, the Doctor, the TARDIS, all of it. And I didn't do anything about them until I met the Doctor. I recognized him; sure he didn't look the same, but I remembered him. I remembered him, and everything started to make some type of sense, oddly enough. And then me and Rose went away with him. I told him about the watch, and the visions, and he was able to fix the watch so if could be opened. He left it up to me wether I wanted to open it or not, and I opened it." I said with a smile. "Oh you should have seen his face! It's probably the happiest I've ever seen him; about 300 years, thinking I was dead, him finally having someone. And I felt great! For the first time I felt completely whole, like there wasn't anything missing. It was fantastic!" I smiled.

"So you're like him then?" Mum asked slowly.

"Yeah." I nodded, trying to figure out how she was taking it.

"I'm not going to pretend that I understand this, but you are still you, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm still me; just different." I said awkwardly. I heard Rose snicker next to me, remembering that she told me the same thing before I opened the watch.

"Well, guess I'm just going to get used to this then." Mum said, smiling at me. My face broke out into a huge grin and I threw my arms around her in a hug.

***

"Mankind stands tall, proud." Harriet said on the TV.

"Harriet Jones. Who does she think she is? Look at her, taking all the credit. Should be you two on there. My daughters saved the world!" Mum exclaimed from the kitchen. My heart warmed a little when she said 'daughters'. I still couldn't believe she took it as well as she did.

"I think the Doctor helped a bit." Rose told her.

"All right, then. Him too. You should be given knighthoods." Mum decided.

That's not the way the two of them things." Rose said, pointing towards me. "No fuss. They just move on. He's not that bad if you gave him a chance." Rose said

"He's good in a crisis, I'll give him that." Mum commended.

"Oh, now the world has changed! You're saying nice things about him." I laughed.

"Well, I reckon I've got no choice. There's no getting rid of him since you're infatuated." She said, giving me a look.

"I'm not infatuated!" I countered.

"Sure you are!" Rose exclaimed. "They way you look at him, it's obvious."

"I don't like him like that." I said, my face going hot.

"Sure." Mum said, skeptically. "What does he eat?"

"How do you mean?" Rose asked.

"I was going to do shepherds pie. All of us. A proper sit down, 'cos I'm ready to listen. I wanna learn about the two of you and him and that life you lead. Only, I don't know, he's an alien. For all I know, he eats grass and safety pins and things." Mum said

"I'm an alien too, remember. And I don't eat safety pins." I laughed. "He'll have shepherd pie."

"You're going to cook for him?" Rose asked.

"What's wrong with that?"

"He's finally met his match." Rose laughed, looking over towards me. I nodded in agreement, laughing with her.

"You're not too old for a slap, you know. You can go and visit your Gran tomorrow. You'd better learn some French. I told her you were in France. I said you were au-pairing." Mum said, messing with some pots and pans.

"Je parle déjà français." I said smoothly. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I took it out to see that the Doctor was calling me from the TARDIS.

"Hey, how did you get my cell number?" I asked him, not remembering giving it to him.

"Spoilers." He said. "How did it go?"

"She took it really well, she wants you to come over." I said, knowing he wouldn't be to keen on the idea.

"That the Doctor?" Rose asked. I nodded before hitting the speaker phone button, making it so they could hear each other.

"Right, I'll be a couple of hours, then we can go." The Doctor said, avoiding the possibility of coming over.

"You've got a phone?" Rose asked.

"You think I can travel through space and time and I haven't got a phone? Like I said, couple of hours. I've just got to send out this dispersal. There you go. That's canceling out the Slitheen's advert in case any bargain hunters turn up." The Doctor said.

"Er, my mother's cooking." Rose said.

"I told him already." I sighed.

"Good. Put her on a slow heat and let her simmer." The Doctor said.

"Doctor!" I exclaimed.

"She's cooking tea. For us."

"I don't do that." He said.

"She wants to get to know you." I told him.

"Tough. I've got better things to do." He said, not wanting to do it.

"It's just tea." Rose said.

"Not to me it isn't."

"Come on, don't be like that." I said, trying to sway him.

"She's our mother."

"Well, she's not mine." He said.

"That's not fair!"

"Well, you can stay there if you want, but right now there's this plasma storm brewing in the Horsehead Nebula. Fires are burning ten million miles wide. I could fly the TARDIS right into the heart of it then ride the shock wave all the way out. Hurtle right across the sky and end up anywhere. Your choice." He tempted. Rose and I gave each other a look, already knowing what the other was wanting to do.

***

"Ester, I was thinking. I've got that bottle of Amaretto from New Year's Eve. Does he drink?" Mum asked, coming into my room where I was packing some clothes into a bag.

"I was wondering whether he drinks or not." Mum said, her tone dropping when she realized what I was doing,

"Yeah, he does." I said, slinging my bag over my shoulder. Rose came to my doorway, her bag in hand as well.

"Don't go, sweetheart. Please don't go." Mum said sadly. I followed Rose's lead and walked out of the flat, where the TARDIS was parked.

"How can you say that and then take them with you?" I overheard Mickey as I walked down the stairs.

"You could look after her. Come with us." The Doctor offered.

"I can't." Mickey said. "This life of yours, it's just too much. I couldn't do it. Don't tell her I said that."

"I'll get a proper job. I'll work weekends. I'll pass my test, and if Jim comes round again, I'll say no. I really will." Mum reasoned, trying to get us to stay.

"I'm not leaving because of you. I'm travelling, that's all, and then I'll come back." Rose promised.

Mum looked at me. "Ester?" She pleaded, looking broken.

"I can't. I can't leave him. He's all I have of my old life, he's my best friend. Besides, someone has to look after the two of them." I said, a small smile on my face.

"But it's not safe." She said.

"Mum, if you saw it out there you'd never stay home." Rose said.

"I'll look after her, I promise. I'll keep her as safe as I can." I said, possibly making a promise that I wouldn't be able to keep, but I would sure as hell try my best to keep it.

"Got enough stuff?" The Doctor asked Rose when we got over to the TARDIS. I just had a small bag with some personal stuff, books and pictures and the sort, while Rose had a giant suitcase.

"Last time I stepped in there, it was spur of the moment. Now I'm signing up. You're stuck with me." Rose said, giving the Doctor her bag before going over to Mickey.

"She does know about the closet, right?" The Doctor asked me, looking at the bag.

"You say that as if I would know." I laughed, causing him to join in.

"Have you gotten used to the time stream thing yet?" He asked, looking down at me. This regeneration of him was pretty tall, and stood a good bit over my short body.

"I think I'm starting to get used to it." I told him.

"Come with us. There's plenty of room." We heard Rose offered Mickey.

"No chance." The Doctor said, knowing Mickey didn't want to go. "He's a liability, I'm not having him on board."

"We'd be dead without him!" Rose exclaimed.

"My decision is final." The Doctor said, Rose gave him a look before giving up.

"Sorry." Rose said, kissing him goodbye.

"Good luck, yeah." He nodded, letting her go.

"You still can't promise me." Mum said to the Doctor. "Ester can, but you can't." The Doctor shot me a look. "What if she gets lost? What if something happens to you two, Doctor, and Rose is left all alone standing on some moon a million light years away. How long do I wait then?" Mum asked him.

"Mum, you're forgetting. It's a time machine." Rose reasoned. "I could go traveling around suns and planets and all the way out to the edge of the universe, and by the time I get back, yeah, ten seconds would have passed. Just ten seconds. So stop worrying. See you in ten seconds' time, yeah?" Mum then hugged both me and Rose and we both went into the TARDIS, following the Doctor.

Rose went to the jump seat, and me and the Doctor started huddling about the console unit, turning knobs, flipping switches and pushing buttons. Flying our TARDIS off into the Time Vortex.


	10. Sleepless Nights

Screams. Lasers. Death. Explosions. Cries. Guns. Fires. Screams. Screams. Blood curdling screams. Screams of parents. Screams of children. Screams of warriors. Screams of the dying. Screams of the living. Never ending screams.

My eyes snapped open. I was in my bed on the TARDIS, not back  _there_. My sheets were soaked with a cold sweat and my pillow was damp with my tears. My hearts were racing and I was breathing much to quickly. I sat up in my bed, trying to slow my breathing and my heart rate.

"It's over. Done. There is no war." I repeated, trying to sooth my wild mind. My hand went to my necklace, it had both my FOB watch and my TARDIS key on the same chain. I ran my finger over the circular etching, feeling the groves that spelled out ' _The Teacher'._

Eventually I calmed myself down enough to get myself out of my bed and on to my feet.

Water. That's what I needed. Ooh, or tea. Tea sounded like a good idea to help calm these nerves. I walked out of my room and down the long hallway, my bare feet padding across the cool floor.

I eventually got to the kitchen, my mind still flooded with thoughts. I opened the double doors to find the Doctor standing by one of the counter tops, a mug in his hand. He was wearing an undershirt and some pajama bottoms, and it looked like he was in a similar state as I was in.

When I walked in, he didn't notice me, and just looked blankly at the wall in front of him, completely zoned out. I lightly cleared my throat, not wanting to spook him.

"Oh Ester, what are you doing up?" He looked over at me.

"I couldn't sleep." I said. "Nightmares. Thought some tea would help." I looked him over. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." He said shortly, looking back at his mug.

"You're obviously not." I motioned to him.

"Well you don't look fine either." He countered.

"I never said I was." I said softly. I looked at him, a pained expression on my face as the screams filled my mind again. "Look." I said. "You aren't in this alone. I'm here. I know I wasn't there in the end last time, and I'm not sure you know how much that beats me up inside, but I  _am_  here now. If I could go back to those days, before it all ended, if I could go back there to you so you wouldn't have had to do that all by yourself, I would. I would do that a thousand times if I could. Because no one ever deserves to go through that alone. No one. And especially not you." I said. "You save so many people, so many races, so many planets. You've probably saved more people than there are stars, and in the war, you did what you had to do. You and I both know that there wasn't any other way; time was burning, the entire universe would have gone up in smoke had someone not put an end to that."

"I know that!" He yelled, breaking out of his silence, pain evident in his voice. "I know that, but it doesn't make the pain go away. I destroyed our planet, our home, our people, everything and everyone that was there, Time Lord and Dalek. It's all gone, Ester, and there's nothing we can do to bring it back."

"And I know  _that_!" I countered. "I understand that you're hurting, cause I am too! I don't think there's been a night since I got all my memories back that I haven't heard their screams in my head. And I feel  _so_   _damn_   _guilty_! I got the easy way out. My parents shipped me off with no way of getting back. Everyone else was on Gallifrey, fighting for hundreds of years after I did. I could have done something, I could have figured a way out, but I was stuck on Earth, unknowing of what I was missing. And on top of all of that, you were alone, thinking I was dead. The battle is over for them, but it's just starting for us. I wasn't there, and you ended it, but we both survived, so our battle continues. Looks like fate's pulling another one on us. We've spent centuries running, and now this internal battle is the one thing we can't run from."

"Seems only right." He laughed dryly. "That fate thing must love messing with us."

"Yeah, but at least we don't have to fight this one alone." I said, going in for a hug, wanting to feel him close to me.

"You're right on that one." He agreed, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close.

We stayed there for a while, our arms wrapped around each other and just taking comfort from having the other near.

Once we had separated from each other, I grabbed a mug from the cabinet and filled it with hot water from the kettle, putting a tea bag in the mug after I had done so.

"Well, one thing's for sure, I'm definitely not getting any more sleep tonight." I said, taking a mouthful of tea.

"You should at least try." The Doctor told me.

"There's no point." I countered. "Rose is going to be up in a few hours anyway."

"That's still more than whatever sleep you had before you woke up."

"You know, I could say the same for you." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Touché."

"Whatever happened to my screwdriver?" I asked, holding my mug with both hands, feeling the warmth seep through to them.

"I have it." He said. "I found it. I went to your house to get you after you went to visit, and your house was destroyed. That's why I thought you were..." He paused and took a deep breath. "Found your sonic, your key, and the button to the watch, all together in what was left of your room. Of course, I didn't know what the button was for, but part of me just knew to grab it."

"My parents, they..."

"Yeah." He said somberly.

I let out a shaky breath, but managed to keep my composure for the most part. My parents had died the day they saved me. Not centuries later when the war was ended, but hours after they saved me.

"Where is it?" I asked him.

"In the console room." He said. I grabbed his hand in mine, putting my mug on the counter and walking quickly to the console room, wanting to have my sonic back as soon as I could get it.

Once we arrived in the console room, he went for his leather jacket which was thrown across the jump seat. He reached into one of the never ending pockets and pulled out the beautiful contraption I called my Sonic Screwdriver.

It had a sleek black metal body and a lavender light at the end. At the bottom of it ' _The Teacher_ ' was engraved in Circular Galifrayain. The Doctor handed me the beautiful object and as soon as I had it in my hand, I felt like a missing piece of my life has fallen back into its place.

A grin broke over my face and I threw it up in the air, flipping it and catching it again. I couldn't help but let out a small laugh. I looked up from my screwdriver to see him smiling at me. "Thank you." I said. "Thanks for grabbing it."

"You say that as if I could have left without it." He said. "I thought you were dead, and that would have been my last connection of you, if you actually were of corse."

Tears were threatening to start streaming now. I threw my arms around him and held him close. I buried my head in his shoulder and I felt his arms go around my waist. And in that moment, I couldn't have felt more at home.

***


	11. The Girl in the Fireplace

"Bye Doctor, bye Rose." I said, giving both of them a hug before I walked out of the TARDIS the next morning. We had parked in the middle of a park a couple blacks away from the flat. I had my sonic in my pocket, my key and watch around my neck, my journal in my bag, and my bag on my shoulder; everything I needed.

With one last goodbye and a wave, I walked out of the TARDIS and watched as it dematerialized. It was really nice outside and a swing set caught my attention. I took advantage of having the park completely to myself and ran to the swing, setting my bag against the metal frame of it.

I pushed my legs back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, making the swing go higher and higher as I felt the wind blow through my hair. I was lost in the simplicity of the motions, just enjoying the feeling, until that all too familiar sound of the TARDIS broke the silence.

The TARDIS landed and Ten walked out, seeing me still on the swing. "Are you planing on getting off anytime soon?" He asked, smiling up at me as I kept kicking my legs.

"Do I have too?"

"You might want to, considering Mickey's on board and it's his first trip."

"Mickey? As in Rose's boy... Thing?" I asked.

"That's the one." The Doctor said.

"Really?" I groaned. "I thought I had just had my yearly dose of Mickey."

"Really? Where were you?" The Doctor asked, trying to get a sense of where I was in my time stream.

"World war three, crashed ship into the Thames, ring any bells?"

"Ah, yes that was a good bit of Mickey, wasn't it."

"Yep." I said sourly.

"Come on, I'm not sure we want to leave him and Rose in there too long." He said, pointing over his shoulder at the blue box. "Don't want them pushing any buttons on accident, now do we?"

I jumped off the swing and picked my bag up off of the ground. "Do you have any idea on where we're going?" I asked, wondering if I would have to change out of my sundress.

"I think I'm just going put her on random." He said as we walked into the TARDIS. I was instantly attacked by Rose as she pulled me in for a hug.

"Hey Rose." I said, hugging my sister back.

"Mickey's here." Rose told me, looking at me as if she was trying to read my face for how I felt.

"Great!" I said with fake enthusiasm, a grin plastered on my face.

"Ester." Mickey nodded to me, which I returned with a little wave.

The Doctor then went to the console to start flipping switches and pulling levers. I joined him, guiding the TARDIS into flight.

"Where are we going?" Mickey asked, grabbing hold of the railing when she jerked.

"Don't know!" Me and the Doctor laughed.

"You're flying this thing and you don't know where we're going?" Mickey yelled.

"Okay first." I said as I ran around the console. "The TARDIS is a she, not an it. And second, there is such a thing as a randomizer, you know."

"Not knowing where you're going to end up is half the fun." The Doctor added, doing his bit of the flying. With a last few switches flipped, we were in full flight.

The Doctor and I grabbed on to the console, Rose was sat in the jump seat, and Mickey was thrown to the metal grating that was the TARDIS floor. It was pretty obvious who was the newbie. We landed with the normal TARDIS sound and Mickey sprinted to the door.

"It's a spaceship. Brilliant!" He exclaimed as all four of us left the TARDIS. "I got a spaceship on my first go." We had landed in a long corridor area of the ship. It had random bits and pieces of equipment scattered around, as if someone was looking for a specific part.

"It looks kind of abandoned." Rose said, lightly kicking a piece of scrap metal. "Anyone on board?"

"Nah, nothing here." The Doctor said. I gave him a look. "Well, nothing dangerous." He amended. "Well, not that dangerous." Rose gave him the same look I had given him. "You know what, I'll just have a quick scan, in case there's anything dangerous."

"You would have known to do that before we walked out of the TARDIS if you would have passed your flying test." I joked.

"Oh please, you didn't scan either." He said.

"I know, but I already passed, not like they're going to take that away from me." I laughed, he stuck his tongue out at me.

"So, what's the date? How far we gone?" Rose asked.

"About three thousand years into your future, give or take." I said while walking around the area. I found a switch on one of the consoles in the room and flipped it, causing the ceiling to show the stars above us. "Fifty first century. Diagmar Cluster." I told the two of them.

"You're a long way from home, Mickey. Two and a half galaxies." The Doctor nodded to him. Mickey was looking above him in pure awe. I couldn't help but grin at the sight.

"Mickey Smith, meet the universe. See anything you like?" Rose asked, grinning as well.

"It's so realistic!"

"Yep, just as real as floor you're standing on, or the air you're breathing." I said.

"Dear me, had some cowboys in here." I heard the Doctor say. I went over to him to see him looking through the console information. "Got a ton of repair work going on. Now that's odd. Look at that." He said, pointing at the screen." All the warp engines are going. Full capacity. There's enough power running through this ship to punch a hole in the universe, but we're not moving. So where's all that power going?"

"Where'd all the crew go?" Rose asked, joining us with Mickey.

"Good question. No life readings on board." I read.

"Well, we're in deep space. They didn't just nip out for a quick drag." Rose pointed out.

"No, I've checked all the smoking pods." I said, looking at the screen. "Can you smell that?" I smelled some sort of food but I couldn't make out what it was. I checked the kitchens, again no life forms.

"Yeah, someone's cooking."

"Sunday roast, definitely." Mickey agreed.

The Doctor then pushed a button on the console, causing a door behind us to slide open to show an 18th century French bedroom.

"Well, there's something you don't see in your average spaceship." I said, looking around.

"Eighteenth century. French. Nice mantle. Not a hologram. It's not even a reproduction. This actually is an eighteenth century French fireplace." The Doctor said.

I bent down too look at the fireplace. "Double sided. There's another room through there." I pointed. Rose looked out the porthole, showing the deep black and starry sky.

"There can't be. That's the outer hull of the ship. Look." She pointed. I looked back to the fireplace in front of me to see a young girl wearing a white night dress looking back at me.

"Oh, hello." I said, giving her a little wave. The Doctor looked over at me to see the little girl as well. He came and kneeled over by me.

"Hello." He told the young girl.

"Hello." She said cautiously.

"What's your name sweetheart?" I asked with a smile.

"Reinette." She told us.

"Reinette, that's a lovely name." The Doctor said. "Can you tell us where you are at the moment, Reinette?"

"In my bedroom." She said.

"And where's your bedroom? Where do you live, Reinette?" I asked her.

"Paris, of course."

"Paris, right!"

"Madame, Monsieur, what are you doing in my fireplace?" Reinette asked us.

"Oh, it's just a routine fire check. Can you tell us what year it is?" The Doctor asked the young girl.

"Of course I can. Seventeen hundred and twenty seven." She recited.

"Right, lovely. One of our favorites." I smiled.

"August is rubbish though. Stay indoors." The Doctor added. "Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for your help. Hope you enjoy the rest of the fire. Night, night." He said as we both waved at her.

"Goodnight Monsieur. Goodnight Madame."

"You said this was the fifty first century." Mickey said once me and the Doctor stood back up.

"I also said this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the universe." The Doctor countered. "I think we just found the hole. Must be a spatio-temporal hyperlink." I raised my eyebrow up at this.

"What's that?" Mickey asked him.

"No idea. Just made it up. Didn't want to say magic door." The Doctor said.

"You might have well have just said magic door." I told him.

"Eh."

"And on the other side of the magic door is France in 1727?" Rose asked us.

"Well, she was speaking French. Right period French, too. So one would assume that, yes." I told her.

"She was speaking English, I heard her." Mickey countered.

"That's the TARDIS. Translates for you." Rose told him.

"Even French?" Mickey asked as me and the Doctor examined the fireplace.

"Yeah."

"Gotcha!" The Doctor exclaimed when we found a switch that started to rotate the fireplace around.

"Ester! Doctor!" Rose yelled as we rotated into Reinette's bedroom.

When the fireplace stopped spinning, Reinette, who was once fast asleep, woke up with a start.

"It's okay. Don't scream." I said in a hushed tone. "It's us. From the fireplace. Look. We were talking just a moment ago. We were in your fireplace." I tried to explain while the Doctor lit a candle with his sonic.

"Madame, that was weeks ago. That was months." Reinette said with wide eyes.

"Really?" The Doctor asked. "Oh. Must be a loose connection. Need to get a man in." He said, patting the mantle.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" Reinette asked us. The room was filled with a loud ticking noise, I looked over to the clock on the mantel to see that it was broken.

"Okay, that's scary." I said, drawing the Doctor's and Reinette's attention to the clock.

"You're scared of a broken clock?" She asked me.

"Just a bit scared, yeah." I said, staring at the broken clock. "Just a little tiny bit. Because, you see, if this clock's broken, and it's the only clock in the room, then what's that?" I questioned, referring to the loud ticking noise. "Because, you see, that noise, that's not a clock. You can tell by the resonance." I explained. "Too big. Six feet, I'd say. The size of a full grown man." I deducted.

"What is it?" The young girl asked, getting more and more nervous.

"Now, let's think. If you were a thing that ticked and you were hiding in someone's bedroom, first thing you do, break the clock." I continued, the Doctor started looking around the room as I stood still. "No one notices the sound of one clock ticking, but two? You might start to wonder if you're really alone." The Doctor was now about to go under her bed.

"Stay on the bed. Right in the middle. Don't put your hands or feet over the edge." He told her before scanning under the bed with his sonic. As he did this, I took my own sonic out of my boot, ready to use if if need be.

There was a flash of movement and then, a tall droid dressed in century clothing stood on the opposite side of Reinette's bed. I sucked in my breath and stared at it, my sonic raised.

"Reinette, don't look round." The Doctor whispered looking at the droid in the smiley mask. "You, stay exactly where you are. Hold still, let me look." The Doctor them looked into the young girl's mind, trying to see what the droids were here for. "You've been scanning her brain." He said. "What, you've crossed two galaxies and thousands of years just to scan a child's brain?"

"What could there be in a little girl's mind worth blowing a hole in the universe?" I asked the droid, not understanding.

"I don't understand. It wants me? You want me?" She said, close to hysterics. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor little girl.

"Not yet. You are incomplete." The droid told her.

"Incomplete? What's that mean, incomplete?" I asked the droid. I reviewed not response. "You can answer her, you can answer me. What do you mean incomplete?" I asked, my volume going louder as I went on. The droid walked towards me and a blade shot out of its hand, much too close to my neck than what I would have liked.

"Ester." The Doctor said, cautiously stepping towards the droid.

"Madame, be careful!"

"Just a nightmare, Reinette, don't worry about it. Everyone has nightmares." I said, my eyes wide and staring at the droid. In a flash, the droid went to close the distance between the blade and my neck and I quickly ducked, missing the blade before it could strike home. "Even monsters from under the bed have nightmares, don't you, monster?" I asked it, my hearts just about beating out of my chest. Luckily for me, the droid's blade was stuck in the mantle, and it was struggling to get it out.

"What do monsters have nightmares about?" Reinette asked me as I hit the mantle, causing it to spin with me, the droid and the Doctor on it.

"Us!" I laughed as we spun out of sight.

"Ester! Doctor!" Rose exclaimed when the saw us reappear. I ran to the wall to grab the fire extinguisher gun off of its holder and tossed it to the Doctor. He sprayed the droid with its contents and it froze in its place.

"Excellent. Ice gun." Mickey nodded.

"Fire extinguisher." I corrected, looking at the droid closely.

"Where did that thing come from?" Rose asked.

"Here." The Doctor said.

"So why is it dressed like that?" Mickey asked.

"Field trip to France. Some kind of basic camouflage protocol." The Doctor said.

"Nice needlework, shame about the face." I said, pulling off the mask and wig of the droid to show its glass skull and gold clockwork interior. "Oh, you are beautiful! No, really, you are."

"You're gorgeous!"

"Look at that. Space age clockwork, I love it."

"I've got chills! Listen, seriously, I mean this from the heart, and, by the way, count those-"

"-And mine!"

"-it would be a crime, it would be an act of vandalism to disassemble you." Me and the Doctor gushed.

"But that won't stop us." I said, showing my sonic, prepared to disassemble it. Before I could even push down the button of my sonic, the droid beamed away.

"Short range teleport. Can't have got far. Could still be on board." The Doctor said quickly, giving the fire extinguisher to Rose.

"What is it?" Rose asked, unsure of what the clockwork droid was.

"Don't go looking for it!" The Doctor exclaimed as me and him went back to the mantel.

"Where're you going?"

"Back in a sec."

"Be safe!" I called out to my sister.

We activated the mantel piece again and we spun around, leaving Mickey and Rose back on the ship.

"Reinette? Just checking you're okay." The Doctor called as we walked into the room. It was the same room as before, but it seemed more grown up. More sophisticated. I saw a harp in the room and I strummed a few notes.

"Ahem." I heard a voice say. Both me and the Doctor looked up to see a lady with curled blonde hair, a beautiful dress, and quiet a developed body.

"Oh. Hello. Er, we were just looking for Reinette. This is still her room, isn't it? We've been away, not sure how long." The Doctor said, flustered at the sight of the beautiful woman standing in front of us.

"Reinette! We're ready to go." A second woman's voice called from another room.

"Go to the carriage, Mother. I will join you there." Oh, so this was Reinette. "It is customary, I think, to have imaginary friends only during one's childhood. You are to be congratulated on your persistence." She told us, looking mainly at the Doctor. To say I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach would have been an understatement.

"Reinette! Well. Goodness, how you've grown." The Doctor said, his voice going up a couple octaves while I stood quiet, leaning against the fireplace and biting the inside of my mouth.

"And you do not appear to have aged a single day. That is tremendously impolite of you." She told him.

"Right, yes, sorry. Listen, lovely to catch up, but better be off, eh? Don't want your mother finding you up here with a strange man, do we?" The Doctor rambled. I went to agree with him, but I wasn't fast enough.

"Strange?" Reinette asked. "How could you be a stranger to me? I've known you since I was seven years old." She stepped close to him, making me feel almost sick.

"Yeah, I suppose you have. I came the quick route." The Doctor said, completely forgetting that I was in the room with him.

"You seem to be flesh and blood, at any rate, but this is absurd. Reason tells me you cannot be real." Reinette said, fawning over him.

"Oh, you never want to listen to reason." The Doctor said with a small smile.

"Mademoiselle! Your mother grows impatient." A man called from outside the room.

"A moment! So many questions. So little time." Reinette said, rushed. She closed the gap between her and the Doctor, kissing him and pushing him against the wall. Jealousy and rage flared within me and my mouth dropped open at the sight. I wanted to yell, to tell them to stop, to push her off of him; but nothing came out of my mouth and my feet stayed planted to the ground.

"Mademoiselle Poisson!" The servant yelled, causing them to break apart after what felt like a millennium. Reinette ran out of her room and the Doctor stood dazed with a stupid grin on his face. I shot him a glare, but he didn't see it. The servant came into the room, looking for Reinette.

"Poisson? Reinette Poisson? No! No, no, no, no, no way. Reinette Poisson? Later Madame Etoiles? Later still mistress of Louis the Fifteenth, uncrowned Queen of France? Actress, artist, musician, dancer, courtesan, fantastic gardener!" The Doctor exclaimed, as happy as could be while I felt as if I had a ten ton stone siting on my chest.

"Who the hell are you?!" The servant yelled.

"She's Ester, I'm the Doctor, and I just snogged Madame de Pompadour. Ha, ha!" He laughed, activating the mantle causing it to bring us back to the space ship.

"Rose! Mickey!" The Doctor called looking for them.

"They've gone off." I told him as we started walking, looking for them. My voice sounded as bitter as I felt.

"Every time." He groaned.

"Well, maybe if you don't give them the idea of running off by telling them 'Oi, stay here while I go off and do fun things, but you lot can sit here and stare at a wall.' then they might actually stay put for once!" I said, doing a bad impression of his voice.

"Every time, it's rule one. Don't wander off. I tell them, I do. Rule one." He rambled.

"And I bring you back to what I just told you." I said.

"There could be anything on this ship!" We turned the corner to find a majestic, white horse with a saddle and bridle. "For instance, a horse."

"Oh, this day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" I said, slightly in shock.

***

"Rose?" I called. We had been walking for a while and we still had no sign of Rose or Mickey. My emotions had evened out a little, as more important things came to mind; such as finding my sister and her idiot boyfriend, or keeping track of the idiot Time Lord that I'd for some reason started developing feelings for, or the fact that there was a horse on a space ship, following us wherever me and said idiot Time Lord went.

"Will you stop following us? We're not your mother." The Doctor asked the horse, getting annoyed at the him. He simply neighed in response, pointing his head in the direction of a pair of white wooden doors.

I opened them, letting a flood of light shine into the ship. The doors led to a garden. "So this is where you came from, eh, horsey?"

The three of us went through the doors, finding Reinette and a friend, walking through the beautiful gardens.

"Oh, Catherine, you are too wicked." We heard Reinette laugh.

"Oh, speaking of wicked, I hear Madame de Chateauroux is ill and close to death." Her friend said.

"Yes. I am devastated." Reinette said, feigning seriousness before they both broke into giggles.

"Oh, indeed. I myself am frequently inconsolable. The King will therefore be requiring a new mistress. You love the King, of course?"

"He is the King, and I love him with all my heart. And I look forward to meeting him." A bird in our general direction called out, causing Reinette to look over in our direction. Me and the Doctor quickly crouched down behind a stone wall, keeping out of her sight.

"Is something wrong, my dear?" Reinette's friend asked.

"Not wrong, no."

"Every woman in Paris knows your ambitions."

"Every woman in Paris shares them." She added.

"You know of course that the King is to attend the Yew Tree ball?"

"As am I."

***

Apparently the horse wanted to stay with us. It followed us as we went through the corridors, still searching for Rose and Mickey.

"You think he would let me ride him?" I asked the Doctor, petting the horse as we walked. The Doctor looked at me with his eyebrow raised.

"Really?"

"Yeah, why not?" I asked. "We hardly ever have a horse following us; when in Rome..."

"He seems like he would be fine with it." The Doctor said, looking at the horse.

So I decided to go for it, and luckily for me, the horse didn't mind me at all. We continued on our quest of sorts, him walking and me riding the white horse.

"I think we're looking through a mirror." I heard a familiar voice echo through the corridor we were in.

"You heard that too, right?" The Doctor asked me.

"Yeah, it's her." I said, a small weight lifting off my already heavy chest. Rose was still on the ship, and close by at that. We quickened our pace, and found Rose and Mickey looking at a two way mirror.

"Blimey, look at this guy. Who does he think he is?" Mickey said, pointing to King Louis and his two servants on the other side of the glass.

"The King of France." Me and the Doctor said, causing the two of them to notice us.

"Oh, here's trouble. What you been up to?" Rose asked us, giving me a look.

"Oh, this and that." The Doctor said. "Became the imaginary friends of a future French aristocrat, picked a fight with a clockwork man." He listed.

The horse I was riding let out a neigh, as if the Doctor had forgotten about him. "Oh, and we met a horse." I added, petting his mane.

"What's a horse doing on a spaceship?" Mickey asked.

"Mickey, what's pre-Revolutionary France doing on a spaceship? Get a little perspective." I countered.

"See these?" The Doctor asked, pointing to the mirror. "They're all over the place. On every deck. Gateways to history. But not just any old history." Reinette then walked into the room, giving a curtesy to the King of her country. I scrunched my nose up. "Hers. Time windows deliberately arranged along the life of one particular woman. A spaceship from the fifty first century stalking a woman from the eighteenth. Why?"

"Who is she?" Rose asked, seeing my expression.

"Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, known to her friends as Reinette. One of the most accomplished women who ever lived." The Doctor explained to her. Rose eyes widened a bit, and gave me an apologetic look when she saw the look on my face. I returned it with a tired looking smile.

"So has she got plans of being the Queen, then?" Rose asked.

"No, he's already got a Queen. She's got plans of being his mistress." I told her, not hiding my distaste-filled tone very well. She was just the shiny object to have the Doctor's eye. The new, shiny object that took a great deal of attention. The shiny object that left me in the shadows. This was the exact reason why I was skeptical of letting myself get caught up in my feelings. This was the reason why I had originally tried to think of him only as a friend. This was why I hadn't gone through with the advice Amy had given me. But I had fallen for it; for him. He was so much more than a friend. I thought of him in such a different light. But it would never happen, me and him. There would always be something to get in the way. Wether it was my family back before we ran away, his arranged marriage, the Time War, my family casting me away to Earth, and now this. This was the exact reason why I had shoved away even the slightest idea of liking him more than a friend. This was the reason why I had pushed those thoughts away for centuries; burring them deep in my mind anytime they would start to reappear. Because I would always be overlooked. I would never been seen as more than his friend. There would always be a distraction. There would always be another shiny object.

"Oh, I get it. Camilla." Rose said with a small laugh, bringing me back to reality.

"I think this is the night they met. The night of the Yew Tree ball. In no time at flat, she'll get herself established as his official mistress, with her own rooms at the palace. Even her own title. Madame de Pompadour." The Doctor said as we watched the King and his servants leave the room. Reinette came up close to the two way mirror to check her appearance.

"The Queen must have loved her." Rose said sarcastically.

"Oh, she did. They get on very well." He told her.

"The King's wife and the King's girlfriend?" Mickey scoffed, not believing it.

"France. It's a different planet." I told him.

"How long have you been standing there? Show yourself!" We heard Reinette say, turning to see one of the clockwork droids standing in the corner. The Doctor grabbed a fire extinguisher gun from Mickey and he rotated the mirror, going to the other side where Reinette was. I got off the horse and followed him, making sure he wouldn't do anything stupid, and Rose and Mickey followed me, leaving the horse on the ship.

"Hello, Reinette. Hasn't time flown?" The Doctor said as he stormed into the room with the gun in hand.

"Fireplace man!" She exclaimed. The Doctor sprayed the droid, freezing it in place, before throwing the gun back to Mickey.

"What's it doing?" Mickey asked when the droid let out some creaks.

"Switching back on. Melting the ice." I told him.

"And then what?"

"Then it kills everyone in the room. Focuses the mind, doesn't it?" I said lightly, taking my sonic out as a precautionary measurement.

"Who are you? Identify yourself." The Doctor ordered the droid, trying his best to get information out of it. It gave no response. "Order it to answer me." He said, turning to Reinette.

"Why should it listen to me?" She questioned, not understanding.

"I don't know. It did when you were a child. Let's see if you've still got it."

"Answer his question. Answer any and all questions put to you." She ordered the droid.

"I am repair droid seven." It said.

"What happened to the ship, then? There was a lot of damage." I asked it.

"Ion storm. Eighty two percent systems failure."

"That ship hasn't moved in over a year. What's taken you so long?" The Doctor asked.

"We did not have the parts." It told us.

"Always comes down to that, doesn't it? The parts." Mickey said. I shot him a look, signaling him to shut up.

"What's happened to the crew? Where are they?" I asked.

"We did not have the parts."

"There should have been over fifty people on your ship. Where did they go?" I asked again.

"We did not have the parts."

"Fifty people don't just disappear." I said, my voice getting louder and stronger as I spoke. "Where-" my eyes widened in realization. I looked over to the Doctor, by the look of it, he hadn't gotten it yet. "Oh. You didn't have the parts, so you used the crew." I said slowly.

"The crew?" Mickey said, shellshocked.

"We found a camera with an eye in it, and there was a heart wired in to machinery." Rose told me and the Doctor quietly.

"It was just doing what it was programmed to." The Doctor realized. "Repairing the ship any way it can, with whatever it could find. No one told it the crew weren't on the menu. What did you say the flight deck smelt of?"

"Someone cooking." Rose said, looking ill.

"Flesh plus heat. Barbecue." The Doctor said darkly, glaring at the droid. "But what are you doing here? You've opened up time windows. That takes colossal energy. Why come here? You could have gone to your repair yard. Instead you come to eighteenth century France? Why?"

"One more part is required."

"Then why haven't you taken it?" I questioned.

"She is incomplete."

"What, so, that's the plan, then. Just keep opening up more and more time windows, scanning her brain, checking to see if she's done yet?" The Doctor asked.,

"Why her? You've got all of history to choose from. Why specifically her?" Rose asked, taking the words from my mouth. I felt a little bubble of pride form in my chest. My sister was learning the ropes to the whole time travel adventure thing, and by the looks of it, she had been retaining the information quiet well.

"We are the same."

"We are not the same! We are in no sense the same!" Reinette exclaimed.

"We are the same." The droid repeated.

"Get out of here!" Reinette yelled. "Get out of here this instant!"

"Reinette, no!" But it was too late, the droid followed its orders and teleported away.

"It's back on the ship. Rose, take Mickey and Arthur. Get after it. Follow it. Don't approach it, just watch what it does."

"Arthur?" Rose asked, I raised an eyebrow at the Doctor.

"Good name for a horse." He said.

"I like it." I said with a small smile.

"No, you're not keeping the horse Rose told us.

"We let you keep Mickey. Now go! Go! Go!" He exclaimed. I went after the two of them. "Ester!" The Doctor called.

"I'm making sure they don't do anything stupid!" I called in response, going through the the mirror door and closing it behind me.

"So, that Doctor, eh?" Mickey asked me, wiggling his eyebrows.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him as we kept walking forward.

"Well. Madame de Pompadour. Sarah Jane Smith. Cleopatra-"

"Sarah Jane Smith!" I exclaimed, a wide grin breaking over my face as I stopped waking. "As in  _the_  Sarah Jane? My Sarah?" I asked, as excited as a little kid on Christmas. "You saw her?"

"Spoilers." Rose told me, causing me to deflate a little.

"Aw, come on now Rose, just a little sneak peak?" I begged, looking at my sister with large eyes.

"Nope, you said it yourself. No spoilers." She said, laughing as I grumbled to myself, looking at my feet.   
"Mickey!" Rose yelled, causing me to snap my head up. A droid grabbed me by the arm and injected me with a fluid before I could break out of his grasp. I still tried to fight, but my movements became sloppy and weak as my vision went black.

***

I awoke to the sight of the TARDIS, parked right in front of me. I tried to sit up, but found my arms were cuffed to the metal, slanted table I was on. I looked over to my right to see Rose, also cuffed to the table, and looked to my left to see Mickey, in the sand shape as me and Rose. I looked back over at Rose, looking her over to see if I could spot any damage done to her. She was still knocked out because of whatever we were drugged with, but she was breathing. I thought about using my sonic to get us out, but groaned when I remembered it had been in my hand when we were captured, so either the droids had it, or it was on the floor of the ship.

"Rose." I said, my voice thick and groggy. "Rose wake up."

She groaned and moved her head towards me, slowly opening her eyes. "What's going on? Ester? Doctor?"

"Rose?" I heard Mickey say. "They're going to chop us up, just like the crew. They're going to chop us up and stick us all over their stupid spaceship. And where's the Doctor? Where's the precious Doctor now? Huh Ester? He's been gone for flipping hours, that's where he is!" Mickey yelled, drawing attention to us. One of the droids went over to Rose.

"You are compatible." It said.

"Well, you might want to think about that. You really, really, might, because me and Ester and Mickey, we didn't come here alone. Oh no. And trust me, you wouldn't want to mess with our designated driver." She said, trying to sway the droid. It didn't work. The droid extended its blade, much like the one it tried to use on me back in Reinette's bed room. "Ever heard of the Daleks? Remember them? They had a name for our friend. They had myths about him, and a name. They called him the-" she was cut off by a crash and a band, followed by drink signing.

"I could've danced all night, I could've danced all night-" The drunken Time Lord sang from down the corridor.

"They called him the- They called him the, the-" Rose tried, but he kept signing. He came into the corridor, carrying a large goblet and wearing his tie around his head. He had also picked up some glasses in his drunken journey.

"And still have begged for more. I could've spread my wings and done a thou-" He sang, and then stopped when he saw the three of us. "Have you met the French? My god, they know how to party." He said, doing a little spin

"Oh, look at what the cat dragged in. The Oncoming Storm." I said, glaring at him.

"Oh, you sound just like your mother." He told me, looking at me over his glasses.

"Oh shut up." I told him.

"What've you been doing? Where've you been?" Rose asked, the blade still close to her face.

"Well, among other things, I think just invented the banana daiquiri a few centuries early." He said, causing me to sigh. "Do you know, they've never even seen a banana before. Always take a banana to a party, Rose, Ester. Bananas are good." He then turned to the droids. "Oh ho, ho, ho, ho, brilliant. It's you. You're my favourite, you are. You are the best! Do you know why? Because you're so thick. You're Mister Thick Thick Thickity Thick Face from Thicktown, Thickania. And so's your dad." Ah yes, the insult of the millennia. "Do you know what they were scanning Reinette's brain for?" He asked, turning to me. "Her milometer. They want to know how old she is. Know why? Because this ship is thirty seven years old, and they think that when Reinette is thirty seven, when she's complete, then her brain will be compatible." He explained before turning back to the droids. "So, that's what you're missing, isn't it, hmm? Command circuit. Your computer. Your ship needs a brain. And for some reason, God knows what, only the brain of Madame de Pompadour will do."

"The brain is compatible." The droid said.

"Compatible?" The Doctor asked, suddenly sobering up. "If you believe that, you probably believe this is a glass of wine." He took the mask off of the droid, then poured the contents of the goblet onto the droid's head, causing it to seize up.

"Multigrain anti-oil. If it moves, it doesn't." He said, getting rid of the glasses and taking the tie off his head and draping it on his neck. He went to the console and switched the off switch for the droids.

"Right, you three, that's enough lying about. Time we got the rest of the ship turned off." He said, using the sonic to get us out of the metal contraption tables. "Oh, and I found this on my way here, Ester." He said, tossing me my sonic, which I easily caught.

"Thanks."

"Are those things safe?" Mickey asked, referring to the now out of commission droids.

"Yeah. Safe. Safe and thick, way I like them. Okay. All the time windows are controlled from here. I need to close them all down. Zeus plugs. Where are my Zeus plugs? I had them a minute ago. I was using them as castanets." The Doctor rambled.

"Why were you using Zeus plugs as castanets?" I exclaimed.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time! Do you have any?"

"No pockets." I told him, motioning to my sundress.

"Why didn't they just open a time window to when she was thirty seven?" Rose asked, changing the topic of conversation.

"With the amount of damage to these circuits, they did well to hit the right century. Trial and error after that." He said, messing with some controls. "The windows aren't closing. Why won't they close?" He groaned when nothing happened. A bell rang, catching our attention.

"What's that?" Rose asked, looking around.

"I don't know. Incoming message?" I guessed.

"From who?"

"Report from the field. One of them must still be out there with Reinette." I said, reading the monitor.  
"That's why we can't close the windows. There's an override." The Doctor said. There was a leaking noise behind us and I turned to see that one of the droids were deactivating, expelling the anti-oil through it's finger, onto the floor.

"Well, that was a bit clever." I said. Back on the console, the off switch had moved itself back to the on position.

"Right." The Doctor said. "Many things about this are not good." He told us.

"Oh really? I thought everything was going dandy." I said sarcastically. "Message from one of your little friends?" I asked the droid. "Anything interesting?"

"She is complete. It begins." It said before all of the droids teleported off of the ship.

"What's happening?" Rose asked.

"One of them must have found the right time window." I told her.

"Now it's time to send in the troops. And this time they're bringing back her head." The Doctor said.

***

"Madame de Pompadour." Rose said as we walked through a time window into another room in her palace. She looked up at the two of us, shocked.

"Please, don't scream or anything. We haven't got a lot of time." I said quickly, a sense of urgency in my voice. "We've come to warn you that they'll be here in five years."

"Five years?" Reinette asked, wide eyed.

"Some time after your thirty seventh birthday. We, er, we can't give you an exact date. It's a bit random. But they're coming. It's going to happen. In a way, for us, it's already happening. I'm sorry, it's hard to explain." Rose said

"Then be exact, and I will be attentive." Reinette told us.

"I would, but we don't have the time. There isn't time." I stressed.

"There are five years." She countered.

"For you. We haven't got five minutes." Rose said.

"Then also be concise."

"Fine." I sighed. "Way up in the sky, there's this metal ship, a metal palace in the sky, and in this ship there are windows that look into different events in your life. Like the fireplace in your bedroom, that's how me and the Doctor got in your room." I explained, keeping the explanation as short as I could.

"There is a vessel in your world where the days of my life are pressed together like the chapters of a book, so that he may step from one to the other without increase of age while I, weary traveller, must always take the slower path."

"He was right about you." Rose said, low enough so only I could hear it.

"Trust me, some people I know would put with up anything to take the slower path." I told her. "Taking the short cuts aren't always as nice as one would think." I said with a sad smile.

"You are more like him than I initially thought." Reinette told me. "So, in five years these creatures will return. What can be done?"

"You need to keep them talking. They're programmed to respond to you now. You won't be able to stop them, but you might be able to delay them a bit." I told her.

"Until?"

"Until the Doctor and I can get there."

"He's coming, then?"

"He promises." Rose told her.

"But he cannot make his promises in person?"

"He'll be there when you need him. That's the way it's got to be." I told her.

"It's the way it's always been. The monsters and the Doctor and you." She said, looking at me. "It seems you cannot have one without the other two."

"Tell me about it." Rose said with a small laugh. "The thing is, you weren't supposed to have any of them. Those creatures are messing with history. None of this was ever supposed to happen to you."

"Supposed to happen? What does that mean? It happened, child, and I would not have it any other way. One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel." Oh as if I didn't already know that well enough.

"Rose? Rose?" We heard Mickey say from one down the hall.

"Come on." I said, taking my sister's hand and leading her to a corridor where his voice was coming from. Reinette followed us, not wanting to be left.

"Ester! Rose! The time window where she's thirty seven. We found it. Right under our noses." Mickey said, coming out of the tapestry. Reinette seemed intrigued by this and walked under the tapestry and on to the ship.

"No, you can't go in there, the Doctor will go mad-" Rose exclaimed as she went into the ship, the three of us following her.

"So, this is his world." Reinette said, looking around the metal ship. Her head snapped to the side when she heard the screams of terrified people ring through the corridor. "What was that?"

"The time window. The Doctor fixed an audio link." Mickey explained.

"Those screams. Is that my future?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"Then I must take the slower path." She said.

"Are you there? Can you hear me? I need you now. You promised. The clock on the mantel is broken. It is time." An older Reinette said from the same direction as the screams.

"That's my voice." The Reinette standing next to us said.

"Ester, Rose, come on. We've got to go. There's, there's a problem." Mickey told us.

"Give us a moment." I told him. He looked at the three of us, sighed and left, heading towards the screams.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked her

"No, I'm very afraid. But you and I know, don't we, Rose, Ester, the Doctor is worth the monsters."

"Every time." I told her before she went back through the tapestry to her own time period.

"Doctor! Doctor!"

***

"You found it, then?" Rose asked when me and her caught up with the Doctor and Mickey.

"They knew we were coming. They blocked it off." He told us. Above us was a screen, showing us a ballroom filled of people screaming because of the droids.

"I don't get it. How come they got in there?"

"They teleported. You saw them. As long as the ship and the ballroom are linked, their short range teleports will do the trick." I told her.

"Well, we'll go in the TARDIS!"

"We can't use the TARDIS. We're part of events now."

"Well, can't we just smash through?" Mickey asked.

"Hyperplex this side, plate glass the other. We need a truck."

"We don't have a truck." Mickey said.

"I know we don't have a truck!" Me and the Doctor yelled together.

"Well, we've got to try something." Rose said.

"No. Smash the glass, smash the time window. There'd be no way back." The Doctor said.

"Could everyone just calm down? Please." We watched Reinette say through the screen. "Such a commotion. Such distressing noise. Kindly remember that this is Versailles. This is the Royal Court, and we are French. I have made a decision. And my decision is no, I shall not be going with you today. I have seen your world, and I have no desire to set foot there again." She told her people.

"We do not require your feet." The droid told her. Two droids dressed in century's costume pushed Reinette to her knees.

"You think I fear you, but I do not fear you even now." She told the droids. "You are merely the nightmare of my childhood. The monster from under my bed. And if my nightmare can return to plague me, then rest assured, so will yours."

"Ester! With me!" The Doctor yelled, getting on the back of Arthur.

I knew what he was doing, I knew we would break the connection, I knew what fate would put in front of us, but I got on the back of the horse any way. We ran through the window, crashing through to Reinette's time and severing the link with the ship. We went through without a scratch, and we quickly slid off, ready to defend.

"Madame de Pompadour. You look younger every day." The Doctor said.

"See, told you we would be here." I said with a smirk.

"What the hell is going on?" King Louis asked.

"Oh. This is my lover, the King of France." She told us, introducing the king.

"Yeah? Well, we're the Lord and Lady of Time, and we're here to fix the clock." I said. I took the mask off of the droid standing near us. It's response was to point it's blade at my neck. Again. "Oh come on, haven't we had enough of this blade on my throat thing? Forget it. It's over. For you and for us. Talk about seven years bad luck. Try three thousand." I said, looking at the now brick wall in dread.

"The link with the ship is broken." The Doctor said. "No way back. You don't have the parts. How many ticks left in that clockwork heart, huh? A day? An hour? It's over. Accept that. I'm not winding you up." The droids began to wind down, stiffening up or falling to the ground. Their time had run up.

"You all right?" The Doctor asked Reinette, helping her up to her feet.

"What's happened to them?" Reinette asked.

"They've stopped. They have no purpose now." I told her, looking at the fallen droids, unable to complete their mission.

***

Several hours had passed, and the Doctor and I were still stuck in France, with no way of getting back. It has started to sink in how long it would be before we would get back to the same time period as Rose, Mickey and the TARDIS. This thought wasn't helped by looking up at the dark, start sky with the Doctor and Reinette, but it was almost as if I was looking at the sky from the TARDIS monitor, allowing me to lay in naïve bliss for at least a moment. To have at least a moment without worrying about Rose.

"You know all their names, don't you? I saw that in your mind. The name of every star." Reinette said to the Doctor.

"What's in a name? Names are just titles. Titles don't tell you anything." He responded.

"Like the Doctor."

"Like Madame de Pompadour."

"If you and Ester are the same, then why doesn't she have a title?" Reinette asked.

"Oh trust me, I do." I told her. "The Teacher. It's who I was known as for over 500 years. But then everything changed, and I became Ester." I said. "That's always what it comes down to, isn't it. Some drastic event that changes the course of your life, so you respond by changing your name. Take marriage for example. Oh, but that's normally a happy occasion. Not a war that caused time itself to burn, or forgetting everything about yourself and being shot at a random planet." I rambled, stopping only when I felt the Doctor's warm hand slip into my own, giving me a reassuring squeeze.

"I have often wished to see those stars a little closer. Just as you have, I think." Reinette said, changing the topic.

"From time to time." The Doctor agreed.

"In saving me, you trapped yourselves. Did you know that would happen?"

"Mmm. Pretty much." I said.

"Yet, still you came."

"Yeah, we did, didn't we? Catch us doing that again." The Doctor said.

"Now, you know we can't stop here. They're so many people we've yet to save." I said with a small and sarcastic laugh.

"There were many doors between my world and yours. Can you not use one of the others?" Reinette asked, noticing how upset we both were.

"When the mirror broke, the shock would have severed all the links with the ship. There'll be a few more broken mirrors and torn tapestries around here, I'm afraid, wherever there was a time window. I'll, I'll pay for any damage. Er, that's a thought, I'm going to need money. I was always a bit vague about money." He said before turning to me. "Where do you get money?"

"From a job, you know, actually working. It's not like we can zap an ATM anytime soon..." I said, thinking of how me and his eleventh form got money out of the ATM before finding Craig.

"So, here you are, my lonely angel, stuck on the slow path with me."

"Yep, the slow path. Here's to the slow path." The Doctor said, raising his goblet of wine to cheers with Reinette's.

"It's a pity. I think I would've enjoyed the slow path." Reinette said.

"Well, we're not going anywhere." I said, only slightly bitter.

"Oh, aren't you? Follow me." She told us. We both complied, getting to our feet and following her. She lead us to her bedroom, complete with the same fireplace.

"It's not a copy, it's the original. I had it moved here and was exact in every detail." She told us.

"The fireplace. The fireplace from your bedroom. When did you do this?" The Doctor asked as I went to look at it more closely.

"Many years ago, in the hope that a door once opened, may someday open again. One never quite knows when one needs one's Doctor. It appears undamaged. Do you think it will still work?"

"You broke the bond with the ship when you moved it, which means it was offline when the mirror broke. That's what saved it. But the link is basically physical, and it's still physically here. Which might just mean, if I'm lucky. If I'm very, very, very, very, very, very lucky." I said, tapping the mantel and saying a silent prayer. "Ah ha!" I exclaimed, looking at the Doctor with an excited look.

"What?" Reinette asked as the Doctor rushed over to me, examining the mantel as well.

"Loose connection!" I laughed as the Doctor soniced the mantel.

"Need to get a man in." He said, giving it a thump.

"Wish us luck!" I said as we tried to activate it.

"No!" She cried when we rotated out of sight.

We rotated into the spaceship, right where we needed to be. "Yes!" I cried, jumping into the Doctor's arms as he spun my around, laughing into my hair.

"That actually worked!"

"I know!"

"Madame de Pompadour! Still want to see those stars?" The Doctor asked through the fireplace.

"More than anything." She said with a grin.

"Give us two minutes. Pack a bag."

"Am I going somewhere?"

"Go to the window. Pick a star, any star."

We ran off in search of Rose, Mickey and the TARDIS, and luckily they weren't too far.

"Ester! Doctor!" Rose yelled when she saw us, running into my arms.

"Hey there." I said, pressing a light kiss to the top of her head.

"Don't you ever do that again." Rose said, giving me a look that competed with one of Mum's.

"I'll try my hardest." I laughed. She then went to the Doctor's open arms.

"How long did you wait?" He asked her.

"Five and a half hours." She said.

"Great. Always wait five and a half hours." He laughed, shaking Mickey's hand before I gave Mickey a quick hug.

"Where've you been?" Rose asked.

"Explain later. Into the TARDIS. Be with you in a sec." The Doctor said, rushed.

***

We had flew to Reinette's time, and the Doctor ran out to get her while I waited inside with Rose and Mickey, caching then up on out events. The Doctor returned shortly after I had finished, without Reinette. I noticed a letter poking out of his pocket, and a sad look in his eyes that he was trying his best to hide from us.

"Why her?" Rose asked. "Why did they think they could repair the ship with the head of Madame de Pompadour?"

"We'll probably never know. There was massive damage in the computer memory banks. It probably got confused. The TARDIS can close down the time windows now the droids are gone. Should stop it causing any more trouble." The Doctor said, sending us off into the Time Vortex.

"Are you all right?" I asked him.

"I'm always all right." He lied.

"Come on Rose, Mickey. It's been a long day for all of us." I said, ushering them out of the console room. Before I left, I looked back to the Doctor. He was reading the letter, a pained expression painted on his face. He needed time.


	12. Mixed Signals

After we had left the console room, Mickey had gone straight to his room, leaving me and Rose to walk around the TARDIS.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Rose asked me.

"Nothing." I lied. "I'm fine."

"No you're not. You've got something on your mind, and it's messing with you; so don't act like you can pull that ' _I'm fine_ ' thing over on me, because it's not gonna work." She said.

"Rose, really-" I tried before getting cut off by my sister.

"No! There is something that is messing with you, and you're going to talk about it!" She said. She grabbed my hand and pulled me into my bedroom, closing the red stained door behind us. She went over to my bed, sat on the end of it and motioned for me to join her. "Sit." She said, and I, not wanting to start anything with the firecracker that is my sister, sat down next to her. "Talk."

"About what?"

"About the last book you read. What do you think?" She said sarcastically. "You know, you and the Doctor are supposed to be the smartest people in the universe, but the two of you are really daft sometimes."

"Hey!"

"It's true! Now tell me what's the matter." She demanded. "Has it got something to do with him?" My silence said it all. "What did he do this time?"

"It was Reinette." I said. "She was all over him, and he just let her. And here I was thinking that there might be a chance for something to happen between us, just to have this blow up in my face!"

"Ester, I'm sure he didn't-"

"He snogged her! And then he went to a party with her where who knows what happened and he comes back completely sloshed. And I just... I just..." I sighed, putting my head in my hands. "Maybe this is a sign. Maybe I just have a stupid, irrational crush that isn't supposed to progress further than something that's just in my head."

"Ester, it's not stupid." Rose said. "You've known each other pretty much your entire lives. You're the last of your kind, he's last thread of your old life to hold on to. And on top of that, experiencing everything that you've experienced together from the terrifyingly bad to the unbelievably wonderful; there's no reason why you shouldn't be feeling some kind of pull to him."

"Yeah, but it's kind of pointless if the pull's one sided, isn't it?" I countered.

"Look, I've seen so many versions of you come through this TARDIS. Young and old, versions that had gone through so much, and have struggled with things I wouldn't even want to think about you going through. But each version of you, each one, you're always you. And you and the Doctor have such a special chemistry with one another. It's almost as if you can read one another's minds sometimes. You move so seamlessly, almost like some intricate dance that no one can even hope of learning aside form the two of you. And just by looking at the two of you, you're both so much happier when the other one is around. And that's beautiful and wonderful and magical and it's something that the two of you share that I've never seen before." Rose said.

"Yeah, well he's got a funny way of showing it."

"You said it yourself! All those adventures ago when we were sitting outside the flat and the Doctor ran off to investigate the space ship without us. I know you've done that already, so don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. He's like other blokes, he dosen't know how to show anyone how he actually feels. That's one thing for sure." Rose said.

"He's not like other blokes." I defended quietly.

"Well he sure is acting like one! Isn't he?"

"But he's so much better than that." I said. "He's different. He dosen't treat me like other blokes would..." Rose looked at me with a beaming smile. "What?" I asked,

"See, you just admitted it." She smiled.

"Admitted what?"

"That he treats you differently!" She exclaimed.

"But not like  _that_! He just likes me as a friend; that's sort of bound to happen after as long as we've known each other."

"Oh my God you are so  _blind_!" Rose said, falling backwards onto my bed.

"I am not! I'm not even much to look at anyway. Brown hair, brown eyes. I'm as plain as you can get." I said.

"You're beautiful."

"You're my sister, you're inclined to say that."

"No I'm not! I'm you're sister and the only thing I'm  _inclined_  to tell you is the truth." She said, sitting back up and looking me dead in the eye. "You're a catch! You're beautiful and intelligent and funny, and one of the kindest people I've met in my life. You put others in front of yourself and put your own life on the line so others might have a better shot at living. You've saved entire galaxies countless amounts of times. You deserve so much, and if you want something you should try your hardest to get it." Rose told me. "So go after him! Be happy! And don't you give up or I swear I will-"

"You know, I think you would really like my friend Amelia."

"Stop changing the subject! You deserve every possible ounce of happiness you can get, and I know you would get that from him, and vice versa. You two were  _made_  for each other!"

I thought about that for a while. About the possibility of maybe becoming more than just friends with him. About what the future could hold. About what a future with  _him_  could hold. A small smile crept up on my face, one that Rose noticed immediately.

"See."  She said, a smile on her face as well as mine. "You know I'm right." She got up off my bed, giving me a tight hug. "Think about that for me, will you? I'm going to bed. Good night Ester." She said as she went to my door.

"Goodnight Rose."


	13. The Lazarus Experiment

A month.

An entire month.

A month had passed since I was last dropped off in 2006 London, and no show of the Doctor. I had originally stayed in a hotel for a couple days, knowing fully well I couldn't just stop by Mum's flat incase another version of myself was there, and crossing my own time stream could easily cause the fabric of reality to disintegrate. But after a few nights of sleeping on a lumpy hotel mattress I decided to take measures into my own hand.

I bought a house. An actual house with doors and windows and furniture and lamps. I was quite lucky that the Doctor and I had quite a lot of Earth money in a shared account, which I was easily able to access with my sonic. I was also able to develop a system to prevent myself from crossing my time stream should another version of myself try to stop by. A pink flamingo. If said flamingo was placed outside in my fenced in yard (A quite high fence, in case the Doctor landed the TARDIS in my front yard) then I would know that I was inside the house. If it wasn't there, then I knew it would be safe for myself to go in.

It was a very cute house, with two bedrooms and decent sized kitchen and living area. I was quiet happy with it, and spent the month decorating and putting my own touch on it.

One morning, however, I was awoke by a loud, familiar whooshing sound, coming from my living room. I went to investigate, getting out of my bed and walking to the room where the TARDIS sat parked. I was still half asleep so my brain wasn't fully processing what was going on.

The door to the TARDIS opened and the Tenth Doctor and another woman walked out.

"Ester! Put on a dress we're going to a party. There's a man who thinks he can redefine humanity!" He yelled. I blinked at him a couple times, not understanding what he was doing in my living room.

And then it hit me. " _A month_!" I yelled, hitting him hard on his shoulder. "You left me here for an entire month!"

"Ester-"

"No! That party can wait! You've got a damned  _TIME MACHINE_  you can be late! A  _MONTH_. And then you just pop into my house with a girl that I don't even know and just hop back into the swing of things! A bloody month!"

"But Ester-"

"But nothing!" I snapped, turning to the girl next to her. "And you are?" I asked, slightly less irritated.

"Martha Jones. You haven't met me yet?" She asked.

"Nope." I said popping my 'p'.

"Oh, that's weird."

"Wait, a month?" The Doctor asked. "It's July, isn't it?"

"August." I glared.

"Ah. Sorry about that." He said, running a hand through his hair and tugging on his ear.

"You better be." I said going past him and into the TARDIS. "What type of dress?" I called from the console room, the two of them following me.

"Evening gown."

***

"You look nice." The Doctor told me as the three of us walked down the road towards the event. Martha was wearing a knee length burgundy dress, while the a Doctor was wearing a tux with a black bow tie. I opted for a longer black dress with heals, I would have chose flats, but the TARDIS had hidden them all away from me. My long hair was knotted and my neck in a loose bun, a few strands falling out of it.

"Thank you." I told him. Luckily for all of us, my temper had simmered down quite a bit since they first showed up in my living room. "I like the bow tie on you a lot; it fits you."

"Oh, black tie. Whenever I wear this, something bad always happens." The Doctor said.

It's not the outfit, that's just you." Martha said, causing me to laugh. I was liking her already. "Anyway, I think it suits you, like Ester said. In a James Bond kind of way."

"James Bond? Really?" The Doctor asked in disbelief.

"Ooh, I didn't even think of that!" I laughed.

"Oh, I forgot to ask, where are you?" The Doctor question.

"Last adventure I had was Reinette." I told him.

"Ah." He said as we walked up to the building where the party was being held, Lazarus Laboratories.

We got in with a flash of the Physic Paper, and soon were escorted to a large room filled with about a hundred or so well dressed people. In the middle of the room was a man sized chamber sitting on a platform with four posts curved to point at the top of the chamber.

"Oh, look, they've got nibbles! I love nibbles." The Doctor gushed as he took a big of food of the serving tray of a waiter.

"Hello." A woman who looked similar to Martha said to us.

"Tish." Martha said, greeting the woman, a smile on her face.

"You look great. So, what do you think? Impressive, isn't it?" She asked Martha.

"Very."

"And two nights out in a row for you. That's dangerously close to a social life." She joked.

"If I keep this up, I'll end up in all the gossip columns." Martha said, joining in.

"You might, actually. You should keep an eye out for photographers. And Mum, she's coming too. Even dragging Leo along with her." Ah, so they were sisters then.

"Leo in black tie? That I must see. This is, er, the Doctor, and Ester." Martha said, introducing us.

"Hello." We said together.

"Are they with you?"

"Yeah."

"But they're not on the list. How did they get in?"

"He's my plus one." Martha said, pointing to the Doctor.

"And I'm his. That is how these things work, isn't it?" I asked, getting a small laugh from the Doctor.

"So, this Lazarus, he's your boss?" The Doctor asked her.

"Professor Lazarus, yes. I'm part of his executive staff."

"She's in the PR department." Martha explained.

"I'm head of the PR department, actually." She corrected.

"You're joking!"

"Congratulations."

"I put this whole thing together." Tosh nodded, a smile on her face.

"So do you know what the professor's going to be doing tonight? That looks like it might be a sonic microfield manipulator." The Doctor said, looking at the capsule in the middle of the room.

"He's a science geek. I should have known. Got to get back to work now. I'll catch up with you later." She said, hurrying off.

"Science geek? What does that mean?" The Doctor asked me.

"That your obsessively enthusiastic about it." I told him.

"Oh, nice." He said.

"Your father's caused me enough heartache already with his menopause and his trophy girlfriend." An older woman said to a young man, both walking towards us.

"Yeah, Mum, I know. It's just something he said last night." The man said. The older woman then saw us and quickly recognized Martha.

"Martha." She called, coming to us.

"Mum!" Martha exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her mother.

"All right, what's the occasion?" She asked, surprised at her daughter's reaction. The Doctor and I just stood slightly away from them, letting them have their family moment. It was a little weird not having Rose by my side, but I didn't want to think about why she wasn't traveling with us. What ever happened, I just hoped that she was safe and happy.

"What do you mean? I'm just pleased to see you, that's all." Martha told her mother.

"You saw me last night."

"I know. I just miss you. You're looking good, Leo." She said, putting a name to the man standing next to their mother.

"Yeah. If anyone asks me to fetch them a drink, I'll swing for him." He said.

"You disappeared last night." Her mother said, changing the subject.

"I just went home."

"On your own?" Martha's Mum asked, eyeing me and the Doctor.

"These are friends of mine. Ester and the Doctor." She said, introducing us. We both gave her mother a small wave.

"Doctor what?" Martha's mum questioned, still giving us looks as if she was seeing if we were fit to spend time with her daughter, much like my own mum would do when me or Rose would bring new people home.

"No, it's just the Doctor. We've been doing some work together." Martha said.

"You all right, mate?" Leo asked, seeing how quiet we were.

"It's lovely to meet you, Mrs. Jones. Heard a lot about you." The Doctor said.

"Have you? What have you heard, then?" Her mum questioned.

"Oh, you know, that you're Martha's mother and. Er..." The Doctor said awkwardly.

"Sorry." I said, trying to save the conversation from taking a bitter turn. "He's not the best with words. We've only heard good things about you, of corse. You're her mother after all; you're the most important woman in her life." I said, earning a small smile of sorts form her mother, which I greatly returned.

Our conversation was halted when an old man who was standing in the middle of the room tapped on his glass with a piece of silverwear.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I am going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch and wonder. Tomorrow, you will wake to a world which will be changed forever." The old man said as every eye in the room turned to him. He went into the chamber and two women scientists started the machine up, pressing a big red button, causing the four columns to spit energy at it. The Doctor and I stared at it, having no idea what was going on in side the container. An alarm on the machine started screaming.

"Something's wrong. It's overloading!" I said, me and the Doctor rushing towards the capsule as smoke and sparks started coming up out of the container. The Doctor had his sonic in hand and I quickly pulled my sonic out of my bra. Ah the struggles of not having pockets or boots.

"Somebody stop them. Get them away from those controls!" An old lady screamed over the alarms.

"If this thing goes up, it'll take the whole building with it. Is that what you want?" I yelled, finding a thick power cord and pulling it out of the socket. The machine stopped spewing energy, and finally came to a halt. Martha ran over to us.

"Get it open!" The Doctor yelled. Martha opened the door, and a man cautiously walked out. The old woman next to us gave a squeal of delight.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Richard Lazarus. I am seventy six years old and I am reborn!" Lazarus yelled, causing the party goers around us to break out into a mad applause.

"He did it. He actually did it!"

***

"It can't be the same guy. It's impossible. It must be a trick." Martha said as we watched Lazarus pose for pictures.

"Oh, it's not a trick. I wish it were." I said, knowing the amount of pain this would cause the world, if not the Universe.

"What just happened then?" Martha asked.

"He just changed what it means to be human." The Doctor said as we watched Lazarus devour an entire tray of food. We walked over to him, wanting to talk to him.

"Richard!"

"I'm famished." The man told his wife.

"Energy deficit. Always happens with this kind of process." The Doctor told Lazarus, catching his attention.

"You speak as if you see this every day, Mister?"

"Doctor, and this is Ester. And well, no, not every day, but Ester and I have some experience of this kind of transformation." The Doctor said. He was right, this process was very similar to our regenerations.

"That's not possible."

"Using hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance." I said. "That's inspired."

"You understand the theory, then."

"Enough to know that you couldn't possibly have allowed for all the variables." The Doctor told him.

"No experiment is entirely without risk." Lazarus told us.

"That thing nearly exploded. You might as well have stepped into a blender." I told him.

"You're not qualified to comment." The old woman told me.

"If we hadn't stopped it, it would have exploded!" I argued.

"Then I thank you, Ester, Doctor. But that's a simple engineering issue. What happened inside the capsule was exactly what was supposed to happen. No more, no less." Lazarus said.

"You've no way of knowing that until you've run proper tests." Martha said.

"Look at me." Lazarus said, motioning to himself. "You can see what happened. I'm all the proof you need."

"This device will be properly certified before we start to operate commercially." The old woman said.

"Commercially? You are joking. That'll cause chaos!" Martha exclaimed, voicing my fears.

"Not chaos, change. A chance for humanity to evolve, to improve."

"This isn't about improving. This is about you and your customers living a little longer." I told him.

"Not a little longer, Ester. A lot longer. Perhaps indefinitely."

"Richard, we have things to discuss, upstairs." The woman said.

"Goodbye, Doctor, Ester. In a few years, you'll look back and laugh at how wrong you were." Lazarus told us, kissing Martha's hand before leaving with the old woman.

"Oh, he's out of his depth. No idea of the damage he might have done." The Doctor groaned.

"So what do we do now?" Martha asked.

"Now? Well, this building must be full of laboratories. I say we do our own tests." I suggested.

"Lucky I've just collected a DNA sample then, isn't it?" Martha said, showing us her hand.

"Oh, Martha Jones, you're a star."

***

"Amazing." The Doctor said.

"That's just fantastic." I agreed as we looked at the screen showing us Lazarus's DNA.

"What?" Martha asked.

"Lazarus's DNA."

"I can't see anything different." Martha said, looking at it closely.

"Look at it." We told her, just as it morphed into an entirely different strand.

"Oh, my God. Did that just change? But it can't have."

"But it did."

"It's impossible." Martha said.

"And that's two impossible things we've seen so far tonight." The Doctor said. "Don't you love it when that happens?" He asked me. I nodded in agreement.

"That means Lazarus has changed his own molecular patterns." Martha said.

"Hypersonic sound waves to destabilise the cell structure, then a metagenic programme to manipulate the coding in the protein strands." I explained. "Basically, he hacked into his own genes and instructed them to rejuvenate."

"But they're still mutating now."

"Because he missed something." The Doctor explained. "Something in his DNA has been activated and won't let him stabilise. Something that's trying to change him."

"Change him into what?"

"I don't know, but I think we need to find out."

"That woman said they were going upstairs." Martha remembered.

"Let's go." Me and the Doctor said together.

***

"This is his office, all right." Martha said once we soniced our way into the large office.

"So where is he?" I wondered.

"Don't know. Let's try back at the reception." Martha suggested. She walked by the desk, and saw a skeletal leg wearing a high heeled shoe sticking out from behind it. "Is that Lady Thaw?"

"Used to be." The Doctor said, sonicing the leg. "Now it's just a shell. Had all the life energy drained out, like squeezing the juice out of an orange."

"Lazarus?"

"Could be." I told her.

"So he's changed already?"

"Not necessarily. You saw the DNA. It was fluctuating. The process must demand energy. This might not have been enough." I explained.

"So he might do this again?"

"Mmm." Me and the Doctor said.

***

"I can't see him." Martha groaned when we looked around for Lazarus at reception.

"He can't be far."

"Keep looking."

"Hey, you all right, Martha? I think Mum wants to talk to you." Leo said, coming over to his sister.

"Have you see Lazarus anywhere?" She asked her brother.

"Yeah, well, he was getting cosy with Tish a couple of minutes ago." Leo said bitterly.

"With Tish?"

"Ah, Doctor, Ester." Martha's mother greeted us.

"Where did they go?" Me and the Doctor asked Leo.

"Upstairs, I think. Why?" The Doctor and I started running towards the stair case, pressed to find Lazarus before anyone else died. It was a struggle to keep up with the Doctor, my heels slowing me down and my feet starting to hurt.

"Doctor! Ester!" We heard Martha's mum yell, but we just kept on running.

***

"Where are they?" Martha asked once the three of us had returned to Lazarus's empty office.

"Fluctuating DNA will give off an energy signature. I might be able to pick it up." The Doctor said, scanning the area with his sonic. "Got him."

"Where?" Me and Martha asked. The Doctor pointed above us, and I sighed. More climbing.

"But this is the top floor." Martha said, before realizing. "The roof."

***

"And is it like you expected?" We heard Tish say as we climbed the stairs up to the roof.

"I find that nothing's ever exactly like you expect. There's always something to surprise you. Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act-"

"Falls the Shadow." I said, completing the quote for Lazarus. Both him and Tish turned to the three of us.

"So the mysterious Ester knows her Eliot. I'm impressed." Lazarus told me.

"I've had plenty of time to read him." I said.

"Martha, what are you doing here?" Tish asked her sister.

"Tish, get away from him." Martha said in a serious tone.

"What? Don't tell me what to do." Tish told her.

"I wouldn't have thought you had time for poetry, Lazarus, what with you being busy defying the laws of nature and all." I told Lazarus.

"You're right, Ester. One lifetime's been too short for me to do everything I'd like. How much more I'll get done in two or three or four."

"Doesn't work like that." I told him. "Some people live more in twenty years than others do in eighty. It's not the time that matters, it's the person."

"But if it's the right person, what a gift that would be." He countered, taking a step towards me.

"Or what a curse. Look at what you've done to yourself." I pressed.

"Who are you to judge me?"

"Over here, Tish." Martha told her sister.

"You have to spoil everything, don't you? Every time I find someone nice, you have to go and find fault." Tish said, argy at Martha. What Tish didn't see, was Lazarus falling to the ground and begin to spasm.

"Tish, he's a monster!"

"I know the age thing's a bit freaky, but it works for Catherine Zeta-Jones." Tish said, but then she saw what he had turned into. Lazarus had, in fact, turned into a monster. He had transformed into a massive, bony scorpion with a human face. "What's that?" She yelled, terrified.

"Run!"

We ran from the roof, me sonicing it shut before running as fast as I could down the stairs in heels. They became more and more of a hassle, and eventually I just decided to ditch them when I heard the beast trashing somewhere above us.

We had stopped for a moment, letting me and the Doctor seal a pair of fire doors with our sonics.

"Are you okay?" Martha asked her obviously shaken sister.

"I was going to snog him." She said. The lights flickered and Lazarus threw his body up against the fire doors, trying to break in.

"Security one. Security one. Security one." Came from the loud speaker, shutting off all the main lights and closing all remaining fire doors. The only light we had was an emergency hallway light and our two sonic screwdrivers.

"What's happening?" Martha asked.

"An intrusion." Tish told us. "It triggers a security lockdown. Kills most of the power. Stops the lifts, seals the exits." She listed.

"He must be breaking through that door. The stairs, come on!" The Doctor said, thinking quickly and grabbing my hand in his as we ran to the stairwell.

"He's inside!" Martha said, hearing a loud crash as Lazarus broke inside.

"We haven't got much time!" The Doctor shouted, continuing to run.

***

"Tish, is there another way out of here?" The Doctor asked when we ended up in the packed reception room.

"There's an exit in the corner, but it'll be locked now."

"Martha, setting fifty four. Hurry. Ester, with me." The Doctor said, throwing his sonic to Martha, who ran to the exit Tish had told us about.

"Listen to me!" I yelled, projecting my voice as far as it would go. "You people are in serious danger! You need to get out of here right now!"

"Don't be ridiculous. The biggest danger here is choking on an olive." A lady scoffed. Lazarus picked that moment to jump into the room, smashing into a table, and starting a panic within the crowd.

"Mum, get back!" Leo yelled, trying to protect his mum. Lazarus's tale hit a second table, flinging it at Leo.

"Leo!" His mum cried, going to him.

"Over here! This way! Everyone downstairs now! Hurry!" I heard Martha call over the chaos, she must have gotten the door open. Lazarus stood over the woman who didn't believe us. She was frozen in her place as Lazarus prepared to eat her.

"No! Get away from her!" The Doctor yelled, it was too late, however, and skeleton fell to the floor.

"Leo. Leo." Martha's mother said, kneeling by her son's side. Lazarus noticed this as well, and turned to them.

"Lazarus! Leave them alone!" Me and the Doctor yelled, trying to turn his attention towards us. Luckily for Martha's family, it worked. From the corner of my eye, I saw Martha run to her family.

"Martha."

"Come on, stay with me. You're okay." She said, looking her brother over.

"What's the point?" The Doctor asked Lazarus, holding hos attention. "You can't control it. The mutation's too strong. Killing those people won't help you. You're a fool. A vain old man who thought he could defy nature. Only Nature got her own back, didn't she? You're a joke, Lazarus! A footnote in the history of failure!" He yelled at the beast.

Obviously, this got him mad, and he charged at us. I took maters into my own hand and grabbed the Doctor's hand before bolting down the hall, trying to gain some kind of traction from my hose-covered feet.

We just kept running, neither one of us knowing what to do in this case. A feeling of dread found it's way into my hearts, Lazarus could easily kill us before we could regenerate. If we didn't come up with a plan soon, this might very well be the end for the last two Time Lords in existence.

We made our way to the basement, finding the small areas's that would be too small for Lazarus

"It's no good, Ester, Doctor. You can't stop me." Lazarus taunted as we continued through a paneled area.

"Is that the same arrogance you had when you swore nothing had gone wrong with your device?" I asked, jumping over a pipe in the ground.

"The arrogance is yours. You can't stand in the way of progress."

"You call feeding on innocent people progress? You're delusional!" The Doctor fought.

"It is a necessary sacrifice."

"That's not your decision to make!" I said, feeling my hearts thudding in my chest

"Peek a boo." A voice said. We quickly turned around to see Lazarus hanging from the pipes in the ceiling, his face level with ours. My eyes went wide and I swallowed a mouthful of air.

"Oh, hello." The Doctor said, nervous as well. We quickly turned on our heels and ran down yet another hall.

This time we ended up in the Lab.

"We're going to blow him up." The Doctor decided.

"That's probably one of my favorite things you've said all day." I said, going to break all the gas lines, causing the flammable gas to spill into the lab. The Doctor was messing with the electrical circuiting of a light when we heard Lazarus again.

"More hide and seek? How disappointing. Why don't you come out and face me?" He taunted as I continued to go around, turning all the gas lines onto high.

"Have you looked in the mirror lately? Why would I want to face that, hmm?" The Doctor asked, causing my to snort and shoot him a grin, which he greatly returned. We both ran to the back door of the lab, me hitting the light switch as we were leaving. We sprinted away as the room exploded into a ball of fire.

We kept running. I could feel my hair falling out of it's bun, and I could tell what makeup I had done was smeared all over my face, and my feet were turning red from the constant pounding they were taking. But surprisingly, as we running, we ran into Martha.

"What are you doing here?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm returning this." She said, handing him his sonic screwdriver. "I know Ester has her's, but I thought you might need it."

"How did you?" I asked as we ran down a corner.

"I heard the explosion. I guessed it was you two."

"We blasted Lazarus." I said with a small laugh.

"Did you kill him?" She asked, quickly answered by the beast slamming himself a wall somewhere down the hall behind us.

"More sort of annoyed him, I'd say." The Doctor guessed as we ran into the reception room.

"What now? We've just gone round in a circle."

"We can't lead him outside. Come on, get in." The Doctor said, holding open the door of the Sonic Mircofield Manipulator Chamber for me and Martha. The two of us quickly got in before the Doctor let himself in, closing the door behind himself. It was a very tight fit for the three of us, the three of us pressed up against each other. Through the clouded glass, I could make out the shape of Lazarus

"Are we hiding?" Martha asked in almost disbelief.

"No, he knows we're here. But this is his masterpiece. I'm betting he won't destroy it, not even to get at us." I said, watching him through the glass.

"But we're trapped."

"Well, yeah, that's a slight problem." The Doctor said.

"You mean you don't have a plan?" Martha exclaimed, her voice raising an octave.

"Yes, the plan was to get inside here."

"Then what?"

"Well, then we'd come up with another plan." I said.

"In your own time, then." Martha said sarcastically. I felt a hand brush against my bum, and instantly felt my face go hot.

"Doctor!" I exclaimed, suddenly very glad he couldn't see my face.

"Sonic's in my pocket." He exclaimed, causing me to breathe out a sigh of relief. "Sorry, sorry, sorry." He repeated as he fished around for it. "Here we are." He said.

"What're you going to do with that?" Martha asked.

"Improvise." He said, going down to the ground. "Ester, move your foot a little to the left." He said, tapping it with the screwdriver to tell me which one to move. I did as I was told, and the Doctor proceeded to remove a panel off of the bottom, exposing the wires, which he quickly started tinkering with.

"I still don't understand where that thing came from. Is it alien?" Martha asked as he worked.

"No, for once it's strictly human in origin." He told her.

"Human? How can it be human?" She asked.

"Probably from dormant genes in Lazarus's DNA." I told her. "The energy field in this thing must have reactivated them. And it looks like they're becoming dominant."

"So it's a throwback." She said, simplifying it.

"Some option that evolution rejected for you millions of years ago, but the potential is still there. Locked away in your genes, forgotten about until Lazarus unlocked it by mistake." I told her.

"It's like Pandora's box."

"Exactly." The Doctor said. "Nice shoes, by the way. Ester, where did your's go?" He asked, looking at my bare feet.

"I ditched them on one of the stair cases. I can't run too quickly in heels." I explained. "I figured that surviving and looking after you held priority over my choice of shoe."

"Hey! I can look after myself." He said, causing both me and Martha to snort a laugh.

"If you say so." I said, before the machine started shaking.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Martha asked.

"Sounds like he's switched the machine on." He said.

"And that's not good, is it?"

"Well, I, for one, was hoping it was going to take him a little bit longer to work that out." I told her.

"I don't want to hurry you, but-" Martha started.

"I know, I know. Nearly done." He said.

"Well, what're you doing?"

"I'm trying to set the capsule to reflect energy rather than receive it." He told her.

"Will that kill it?"

"When he transforms, he's three times his size. Cellular triplication. So he's spreading himself thin." I explained to her as the Doctor continued to work at our feet.

"We're going to end up like him!" She yelled in a worried tone when the machine sped up.

"Just one more!" He yelled over the machine. It shook with energy that eventually came to a halt. The three of us walked out, all sighing in relief.

"I thought we were going to go through the blender then." Martha told us.

"Really shouldn't take that long just to reverse the polarity. I must be a bit out of practice." The Doctor said absentmindedly, a sad look flooding his eyes. My hearts felt a little heavy when I thought about what might have happened that had gotten to him as much as it had. I hated it when he had that look in his eyes. He must have lost someone recently, my mind drifted to Rose, but I quickly changed my thoughts. It probably wasn't Rose, it couldn't be Rose.

I snapped out of my thoughts to see a naked Lazarus, lying face down on the floor. He was dead.

"Oh, God. He seems so human again. It's kind of pitiful." Martha said sadly.

"Eliot saw that, too. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper." I said.

***

We were all outside the building, my feet cold on the pavement as we watched an ambulance be loaded with a figured covered by a red blanket.

"Ester." The Doctor said, catching my attention. I turned to him to see that he had a pair of black converse shoes in his hands. "Put these on." He ordered, handing them to me. My feet fit easily into them, I looked at the bottom to see that they were my size.

"You keep a pair of shoes that fit me in your pockets?"

"Yeah, they came in handy, didn't they?" He asked with a grin.

"Yeah, thanks." I said, turning my head to smile up at him.

"She's here. Oh, she's all right." Tish said, coming over to the two of us and Martha with her mother and brother in tow.

"Ah, Mrs Jones. We still haven't finished our chat." The Doctor said before a hand came in contact with his face and a slight sting of what I could only describe as sympathy pain came to my own cheek.

"Keep away from my daughter!" Martha's mum said giving the Doctor a death glare as he rubbed his now-red cheek.

"Mum, what are you doing?" Martha exclaimed as I stared wide eyed at the Doctor.

"All of the mothers, every time." He groaned as I rubbed his shoulder, trying to make him feel better.

"He is dangerous. I've been told things." Her mum told her daughter. Whoever she had been talking to, they obviously didn't know I was the Teacher. Otherwise she would be saying the same thing about me.

"What are you talking about?"

"Look around you. Nothing but death and destruction." She exclaimed, motioning to the now leaving ambulance.

"This isn't his fault. He saved us, all of us! They both did!" Martha argued.

"And it was Tish who invited everyone to this thing in the first place. I'd say technically, it's her fault." Leo argued, getting an elbow in the side from his mother. From down the street, there was a loud crash and me and the Doctor instantly took off running towards the noise.

***

"Lazarus, back from the dead. Should have known, really." I sighed, looking at the back of the now empty ambulance. I took out my sonic and scanned around, seeing if I could detect which direction he ran off too.

"Where's he gone?" Martha asked, her sister standing next to her.

"That way. The church." I said, pointing in the correct direction.

"Cathedral." Tish corrected. "It's Southwark Cathedral. He told me."

And so we went.

***

"Do you think he's in here?" Martha asked as the four of us carefully walked around, looking for Lazarus.

"Where would you go if you were looking for sanctuary?" The Doctor asked as we neared the altar. Behind it sat Lazarus, shivering in the red blanket that once covered his body in the ambulance.

"I came here before, a lifetime ago." He said, breaking the silence. "I thought I was going to die then. In fact, I was sure of it. I sat here, just a child, the sound of planes and bombs outside." He continued.

"The Blitz." The Doctor said.

"You've read about it."

"We were there." He said, motioning to us. Now that was something I haven't done before. Spoilers, I guessed.

"You're too young." Lazarus said, turning to face us.

"So are you." I told Lazarus. He let out a laugh before his body made some painful sounding cracks.

"In the morning, the fires had died, and I was still alive. I swore I'd never face death like that again. So defenseless. I would arm myself, fight back, defeat it." He told us.

"That's what you were trying to do today?" I asked.

"That's what I did today." He corrected.

"What about the other people who died?" The Doctor asked him.

"They were nothing. I changed the course of history." He said, causing me to get mad.

"Any of them might have done too!" I argued. "You think history's only made with equations? Facing death is part of being human. You can't change that."

"No, Ester. Avoiding death, that's being human. It's our strongest impulse, to cling to life with every fibre of being. I'm only doing what everyone before me has tried to do. I've simply been more successful." He countered.

"Look at yourself. You're mutating! You've no control over it. You call that a success?" I questioned.

"I call it progress. I'm more now that I was. More than just an ordinary human."

"There's no such thing as an ordinary human." I told him before his body convulsed again.

"He's going to change again any minute." Martha said.

"I know. If I can get him up into the bell tower somehow, I've an idea that might work." The Doctor said.

"Ooh, I like the sound of that." I nodded.

"Up there?"Martha asked, looking above us at the giant bell.

"You're so sentimental, Doctor. As well as you, Ester. Maybe you two are older than you look."

"We're both old enough to know that a longer life isn't always a better one." The Doctor said. "In the end, you just get tired. Tired of the struggle, tired of losing everyone that matters to you, tired of watching everything turn to dust. If you live long enough, Lazarus, the only certainty left is that you'll end up alone." He said, speaking from experience. I thought back on all those years, all the people we watched die while we stayed as we were.

"That's a price worth paying." Lazarus decided.

"Is it?" I asked, my voice slightly breaking.

"I will feed soon."

"We're not going to let that happen." I told him.

"You've not been able to stop me so far."

"Leave them, Lazarus! They're old and bitter. I thought you had a taste for fresher meat." Martha taunted, putting herself on the line.

"Martha, no!" I exclaimed as Lazarus lunged towards her. She and Tish started running towards the bell tower, trying to get Lazarus up to the top.

"What are you doing?" I heard Martha ask her sister as they ran.

"Keeping you out of trouble!"

"Ester! Doctor! The tower!"

The Doctor and I ran under the bell, looking up to see where they were on the spiral staircase that went around the perimeter of the tower.

"Where are they?" I groaned. "Martha?!"

"Doctor! Ester!" Martha called, looking down at us.

"Take him to the top. The very top of the bell tower, do you hear me?!" The Doctor yelled, his voice resonating off the walls.

"Up to the top!"

Me and the Doctor headed to the organ loft, ready to end this once and for all. The Doctor took his screwdriver out, sticking it on a power outlet and increasing the voltage.

"Hypersonic sound waves. Inspired." The Doctor said with a small laugh and we sat down on the organ bench, ready to play.

"I hope it's a good acoustic in here." I said, looking around us. We started playing, making it up as we went, but it sounded like a composed piece. Both of us keeping the same tempo and key, making the sound waves vibrate around us as we continued.

"We need to turn this up to eleven." I heard the Doctor said, causing my to snort. We stopped playing when we heard a loud crash come from the bell tower.

We went to investigate, finding a naked Lazarus, laying face up and surrounded by shards of wood. His dead eyes stared blankly up at the bell, where Martha and Tish still were.

"Martha?" I called, praying for a response.

"I'm okay!" I heard her say. "We're both okay!"

The Doctor closed Lazarus's eyes, and as he did, Lazarus turned back into the old man that he had originally been. We then went up the stairs, looking for Martha and Tish.

"I didn't know you could play." Martha said when I pulled her into a tight hug after the Doctor had let go of her.

"Oh, well, you know, if you hang around with Beethoven, you're bound to pick a few things up." I said, a smirk on my face.

"Hmm. Especially about playing loud." She said, giving us a look.

"Sorry?"

***

"Something else that just kind of escalated, then." The Doctor said, unlocking the TARDIS that was parked in Martha's flat.

"I can see a pattern developing. You should take more care in the future. And the past. And whatever other time period you find yourself in." Martha said. "That goes for the both of you." She said, looking at me.

"It's good fun, though, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"So, what do you say, one more trip?" The Doctor offered.

"No. Sorry." She said, causing my hearts to sink a little.

"What do you mean? I thought you liked it." I asked her.

"I do, but I can't go on like this. One more trip. It's not fair." She argued.

"What're you talking about?" The Doctor asked.

"I don't want to be just a passenger anymore. Someone you take along for a treat. If that's how you still see me, I'd rather stay here." She told us.

"Okay, then. If that's what you want." The Doctor said.

"Right. But we've already said goodbye once today. It's probably best if you just go." She said, turning her back to us. We stood there, seeing how long it would take her to figure it out. "What is it?" She asked, turning back around to us.

"What? He said okay." I told her.

"Sorry?"

"Okay." He repeated, nodding towards the TARDIS.

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" She exclaimed pulling the both of us in for a tight hug.

"Well, you were never really just a passenger, were you?" The Doctor said as the three of us went into the TARDIS, and flew away.


	14. The Almost Kiss

My mind was running faster than it ever had before.

My hearts were racing to the point where I thought they were going to beat their own way out of my chest.

My breathing was heavy and my hands were tangled in my own hair, trying to put reason to what had almost happened.

To what had left me a confused mess.

I stared at my ceiling, my room dark and my body enveloped in warm blankets, the perfect thinking spot.

Or it would have been, but my mind was too numb to make any thoughts worth having.

I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. We were just talking! But then his face started getting closer, and my hearts started racing. But we were just talking about the simplest things! Old adventures, past companions, memories from back home; but then it just progressed into something that made my mind melt.

I let out a sigh as I stared up at the dark ceiling. I could still feel his warm breath on my face. I could see his eyes looking deep into my own. I could still feel his body sitting so close to my own as we sat by the fire in the library, neither one of us able to sleep, warm mugs of tea in our hands. His nose had just brushed against my own, and I had dared to let my eyes slowly close.

It felt like forever ago, but it was probably only thirty minutes.

Why did I run off? Why was I such a coward! I wanted it to happen, and it was obvious that he felt the same way, but I just ran. Why were we always running?

We had been running since day one, when we ran off with our Type 40 TARDIS. Away from our home, away from his wife and family, away from my parents. In all of our years, we'd never stop. We ran from places, from people, from fear. And now, after all those years, I was running from him.

When would all the running stop? When would we be able to just stand still? To just slow down? To just take a minute and catch our much needed breath?

Why was I running from him, of all people? He was the one I ran with, the one I ran to, why had that changed? Why had I changed? Why was I afraid?

Was it because he was my best friend? My only connection back to my old life and home? Was it because he had seen me go through so much? Because he was always a shoulder to cry on when we lost someone? Because he was and had been the most important person in my life for so long? Was I afraid to change what had been so normal for so long?

Was I afraid to start something new? Afraid to turn to a new page? Afraid to start a new chapter? Afraid to finally have something that I had been denying myself for centuries? Afraid to admit my feelings? Afraid to give in? Afraid to give that part of my life to someone else? Afraid to let go and lose some of my control over my life?

Afraid to have things end terribly wrong?

Afraid to lose him?

 _Yes_. Yes, I was afraid of all of these things and more. I was terrified.

But maybe he was too. Maybe I wasn't alone in this. Maybe we were both scared out of our wits.

Maybe we could make something work. Maybe we would both be properly happy; not the happy that we both wear like masks when we're in front of others, but a happy that neither one of us would have to fake because it came so easily and naturally.

I turned to my side, finding my small leather journal sitting on my night stand, a pen on top of it. I grabbed it and switched on the lamp, letting my room fill with a warm glow. I flipped through the pages that held sketches of different creatures and faces, all surrounded by the short and quick pen strokes that wrote out what my dream was about. 'The Doctor' stood out among all of them, some of them underlined, some of them written longer, and more floatly than the rest of the words that marked the pages.

I then reached the bit of my journal where the adventures had really begun. The bit written by the Time Lady, not the human girl trying to find herself in an old journal. The adventures that we went on. The trips, the creatures, the feelings. The near death experiences, the times I thought it was the end, the times we made it out with out a scrape. The times we won.

I closed my journal, sitting it on my lap and breathing out a long breath. We had done it. We had survived wars. We had saved planets. We had won when it had seemed impossible. We had done it. We had our share of losses as well, but we had never let them completely defeat us.

We had each other. We cherished the good. We laughed. We cried. We ran. We found people. We saved people. We saved each other. We kept going. We  _always_  kept going. We were a well oiled machine, working together in just the right way. We did it together.

We did the impossible together.

Maybe we could make it through this impossible thing.

Maybe we could make this impossible thing work.

Maybe the impossible could become possible.


	15. Vampires of Venice

"Amy kissed me." The Eleventh Doctor told me, eyes wide and frazzled as he stood in my house.

"What?" I asked in shock; that statement was one of the last things I would have expected to come out of his mouth. "Where is she? Did you leave her?" I asked, worried that he overreacted and left her on some planet.

"No, she's in the TARDIS. She's supposed to get married in the morning." He explained.

"To who? You took her away on the night before her wedding?"

"I didn't know that bit when we took her! You were there too, and you must've known if this is happening before that night for you." He argued.

"You know as well as I do I couldn't have said anything." I countered. "Who is she getting married to?" I asked again.

"Have you met Rory yet?"

"Who?"

"Ah, well then." He said, noticing my blank look. "We're going to go collect him at his stag party."

"You sure?" I asked, wary about how Rory might react.

"Of course I am."

***

And that is how I ended up inside of a stripper cake with the Doctor by my side. 

  
"Out. Out. Out." The male crowd chanted. This was definitely up there with some of my most awkward moments. I gave the Doctor a look and he nodded at me, telling me to go up.

I took a breath before jumping out of the cake, causing a lot of the drunk men to whistle at me, as I stood there, a mix between awkward and scared out of my wits.

"Oi!" I heard the Doctor say from inside the cake. He stood up as well, causing silence to fall in the room. He wrapped his arm around my waist in a protective manner, which I gratefully accepted. The Doctor scanned the crowd and found the face of the man he had been searching for. "Rory!" He exclaimed. "That's a relief. I thought we'd burst out of the wrong cake, again. That reminds me, there's a girl standing outside in a bikini. Could someone let her in and give her a jumper? Lucy? Lovely girl. Diabetic. Now then, Rory. We need to talk about your fiancée. She tried to kiss me. Tell you what, though. You're a lucky man. She's a great kisser." He rambled. One of the men dropped his glass, causing it to shatter on the floor. I lightly slapped his chest.

"That probably sounded better in his thick head." I said, noticing the awkward tension that filled the room.

***

The Doctor was wielding some bits under the TARDIS while I sat with him on the swing, a wielding mask on my face as well as his. Rory and Amy sat on the jump seat, an awkward feeling pouring out of them and into the TARDIS.

"Oh, the life out there, it dazzles. I mean, it blinds you to the things that are important." The Doctor said, stopping the flame on the torch. "We've seen it devour relationships and plans. It's meant to do that. Because for one person to have seen all that, to taste the glory and then go back, it will tear you apart." He told them.

"So, we're sending you somewhere, together." I finished, looking up at them without the mask.

"Whoa. What, like a date?"Amy questioned.

"Anywhere you want. Any time you want. One condition. It has to be amazing." I told them.

"The Moulin Rouge in 1890. The first Olympic Games." The Doctor listed, getting off the swing before helping me off as well.

"Think of it as a wedding present, because it's either this or tokens." I told them, a smile on my face.

"It's a lot to take in, isn't it? Tiny box, huge room inside. What's that about? Let me explain." The Doctor said, noticing Rory's lack of talking.

"It's another dimension." Rory said.

"It's basically another dimension."I said, not really noticing what he said. "What?" I asked, a confused look on my face as to how he knew that.

"After what happened with Prisoner Zero, I've been reading up on all the latest scientific theories. FTL travel, parallel universes." He explained.

"Prisoner Zero?" I asked the Doctor quietly.

"Spoilers." He said.

"Ah."

"I like the bit when someone says it's bigger on the inside. I always look forward to that." The Doctor sighed.

"I do too." I agreed with him.

"So, this date. I'm kind of done with running down corridors. What do you think, Rory?" Amy asked her fiancé.

"How about somewhere romantic?" The Doctor asked, grinning at me before we set off into the Time Vortex.

***

"Venice." The Doctor and I said as the four of us walked out of the TARDIS and into a very busy market place.

"Venezia. La Serenissima. Impossible city. Preposterous city. Founded by refugees running from Attila the Hun. It was just a collection of little wooden huts in the middle of the marsh, but became one of the most powerful cities in the world. Constantly being invaded, constantly flooding, constantly just beautiful." I said, giving my mini history lesson. "Ah, you got to love Venice. So many people did. Byron, Napoleon, Casanova."

"Ooo, that reminds me. 1580. That's all right. Casanova doesn't get born for a hundred and forty five years. Don't want to run into him. We owe him a chicken, remember Ester?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh yeah. I nearly forgot about that." I told him.

"You owe Casanova a chicken?"

"Long story. We had a bet." The Doctor brushed it off before we were stopped by an official.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." The man said, stopping us in our tracks. "Papers, if you please. Proof of residency, current bill of medical inspection." He requested.

"There you go, fellow. All to your satisfaction, I think you'll find." The Doctor said, flashing him the physic paper.

"I am so sorry, Your Holiness." He said, bowing to the Doctor. "Your Ladyship." He said, bowing to me as well. "I didn't realize."

"No worries." The Doctor said as we both gave him a small nod. "You were just doing your job. Sorry, what exactly is your job?" He asked.

"Checking for aliens." He said, causing me and the Doctor to go wide eyed. Maybe he wasn't so good at his job then, considering he just accepted two aliens, after all. "Visitors from foreign lands what might bring the plague with them." He continued, letting me breath a little easier.

"Oh, that's nice. See where you bring me? The plague." Amy said to us sarcastically.

"Don't worry, Viscountess." The inspector said. "No, we're under quarantine here. No one comes in, no one goes out, and all because of the grace and wisdom of our patron, Signora Rosanna Calvierri." He explained to us.

"How interesting. I heard the plague died out years ago." I said, knowing that by this time in history, the black plague had definitely died out.

"Not out there. No, Signora Calvierri has seen it with her own eyes. Streets are piled high with bodies, she said." He reassured me.

"Did she now?" I asked. Who ever this Signora Calvierri was, she had her facts mixed up big time. The inspector moved on to his next target, and Rory took the physic paper from him, examining it for himself.

"Er, according to this, I am your eunuch." Rory said.

"Oh yeah. I'll explain later." Amy dismissed.

***

We were walking around, taking in the beautiful sights. The Doctor kept my hand in his, not wanting to let go anytime soon. I didn't mind it at all, an enjoyed the warmth that came from him, making my hearts beat a little faster.

"The Calvierri girls." A girl said, drawing my attention to a group of veiled girls, walking two-by-two on the other side of the canal.

"Where's my Isabella?" A man asked the woman who was leading the veiled girls.

"What are you doing? Get away from there." I heard the woman said. The man started lifting the veils of the girls, trying to find his daughter.

"Isabella? Isabella, it's me." He said once he found his daughter. One of the girls knocked him down, getting in his face before a pale man came around. The girls left and the pale man said something to the man on the ground, causing him to yell his daughter's name.

"Isabella! It's me!" He yelled after the girls, getting no response.

"What was that about?" Amy asked before the Doctor pulled me away with him.

***

"Who are those girls?" The Doctor asked, once we found the man who was looking for his daughter; Guido. Amy and Rory had went off somewhere, so it was just the Doctor, me and Guido.

"I thought everyone knew about the Calvierri school." Guido said.

"Our first day here." I explained. "It's okay. Parents do all sorts of things to get their children into good schools. They move house, they change religion. So why are you trying to get her out?" I questioned.

"Something happens in there. Something magical, something evil. My own daughter didn't recognize me. And the girl who pushed me away, her face, like an animal." Guido told us.

"I think it's time we meet this Signora Calvierri." The Doctor told me, I nodded in agreement.

***

"You have my daughter. Isabella!" Guido yelled from the gate, distracting the guard so me and the Doctor could sneak in.

"No, you're not coming in. Just stop there. Look, we've told you." The Guard told him as me and the Doctor used our sonics to get in through the water gate.

We walked down a stone staircase into a cellar with a vaulted roof above us.

"Hello, handsome." The Doctor said, adjusting his bow tie in the mirror as I laughed at him.

"You're pretty full of yourself, you know." I laughed.

"Oh, don't act like you don't like it." He teased, causing my face to go bright red. It was now his turn to laugh at me.

"Who are you?" the voices of five girls said from behind us. The Doctor and I turned around to see five deathly pale girls with long hair, white dressing gowns, and no reflection.

"How are you doing that? I am loving it. You're like Houdini, only five slightly scary girls, and he was shorter. Will be shorter. I'm rambling." The Doctor said.

"I'll ask you again, signor. Who are you?" the said together.

"Why don't you check this out?" The Doctor offered, showing his library card with a picture of his first regeneration instead of the physic paper.

"Uhm..." I said, poking his side.

"Library card. Of course, it's with."  _Rory_. "He's. I need a spare. Pale, creepy girls who don't like sunlight and can't be seen. Ha. Are you thinking what I think I'm thinking? But the city. Why shut down the city? Unless..." The Doctor said, talking to himself.

"Leave now, signor, or we shall call for the Steward, if you are lucky." The girls said.

"Ooo."

"Doctor come on!" I said, as the girls bared their teeth, and started hissing at us.

"Tell me the whole plan." He tried but the girls only bared their long, pointy teeth and snarled at us. "One day that will work. Listen, I would love to stay here. This whole thing. I'm thrilled. Oh, this is Christmas!" He exclaimed as I was finally able to get him to leave with me.

***

"Doctor! Ester!" Amy exclaimed when we found her by the canal.

"We've just met some vampires." Me and the Doctor said in giddy tones the same time Amy told us: "We just saw a vampire!"

"And creepy girls and everything!"

"Vampires!" We said, the three of us doing a little excited dance with each other.

"We think we just saw a vampire." Rory said running to us, a few steps behind Amy before joining us.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Amy was just telling us." The Doctor said, a big ball of excitement like me and Amy.

"Yeah, yeah. The Doctor and Ester actually went to their house." Amy said.

"Oh. Right. Well." Rory said awkwardly.

"Okay. So, first we need to get back in there somehow." I said, getting a nod of agreement from the Doctor.

"What?" Rory asked, confused as to why we would want to go back.

"How do we do that?" Amy asked.

"Back in where?" Rory continued.

"Come and meet our new friend." The Doctor offered.

***

The four of us made our way to Guido's house, where we were now sat around a table with a map of Venice in front of us.

"As you saw, there's no clear way in." Guido said. "The House of Calvierri is like a fortress. But there's a tunnel underneath it, with a ladder and shaft that leads up into the house. I tried to get in once myself, but I hit a trapdoor."

"You need someone on the inside." Amy said, voicing a brilliant idea.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"No." The Doctor said, shooting down the idea.

"You don't even know what I was going to say." Amy argued.

"Yeah, for all you know Amy could have an amazing plan!" I agreed, siding with Amy.

"Er, that we pretend you're an applicant for the school to get you inside, and tonight you come down and open the trapdoor to let us in." The Doctor said.

"Oh. So you do know what I was going to say."

"Are you insane?" Rory asked her.

"No, she's brilliant!" I argued.

"We don't have another option."

"He said no, Amy. Listen to him." Rory said.

"Yeah, well Ester said yes." She countered.

"There is another option." Guido said, pointing to a collection of barrels behind Rory. "I work at the Arsenal. We build the warships for the navy." The Doctor sniffed the barrels.

"Gunpowder. Most people just nick stationery from where they work. Look, I have a thing about guns and huge quantities of explosive." The Doctor said.

"What do you suggest, then? We wait until they turn her into an animal?" Guido said.

"I'll be there three, four hours, tops." Amy said, trying to sway them.

"And I could go with her." I told him.

"No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." He told me. "It can't keep happening like this. This is how they go. You know that Ester!" He argued.

"You know I won't let that happen. Not if I'm down there with her." I fought.

"But I have to know." He said to himself, thinking about it. "We go together, say you two are my daughters." He offered, causing me to pulled a disgusted face.

"What? Don't listen to him." Rory said.

"Your daughters? You look about nine." Amy argued, causing him to pout.

"Brother, then." He suggested, not any better.

"No way." I told him, shaking my head. "We could always say you're my husband and Amy's my sister." I offered. "Or vice versa."

"Fiancé." Amy agreed.

"I'm not having him run around telling people he's your fiancé." Rory said.

"No. No, you're right." Amy said, looking at Rory.

"Thank you."

"I mean, they've already seen the Doctor. You should do it." Amy offered, causing Rory's eyes to go wide.

"Me?" He questioned.

"Yeah. You can be our brother." Amy said, and I nodded in agreement.

"Why is him being your brother weird, but with me, it's okay?"

"Actually, I thought you were her fiancé." The Doctor said.

"Yeah, that's not helping." Amy told the Doctor.

"This whole thing is mental. They're vampires, for God's sake!"

"We hope." I said.

"So if they're not vampires?" Amy asked me.

"Makes you wonder what could be so bad it doesn't actually mind us thinking it's a vampire." I told her.

***

After a quick change of clothing, and a little bit of the Doctor fretting about the two of us staying safe and making sure I had my screwdriver and to make sure we both came out okay (which I might have found  _very_  cute), me, Rory and Amy were standing in the thrown room before who we now knew as Rosanna and Francesco.

"So, basically, both of our parents are dead from getting the plague. I'm a gondola driver, so money's a bit tight, so having my sisters go to your school for special people would be brilliant." Rory said awkwardly. "Cheers."

"Have we met?" Francesco asked, looking at me closely.

"I've just got one of those faces." Rory said.

"I wasn't talking to you." He told him before looking back at me.

"She's got the same face, which is because she's my sister. They both are." Rory said, and had I not known any better, I could say that Rory was an actor. Not.

"Carlo, explain yourself. Why have you brought me this imbecile?" Rosanna asked the Steward who had brought us in.

"Signora, they have references from His Majesty the King of Sweden." Carlo told her.

"What?" Rosanna said in disbelief. "Let me see." She ordered. Rory stepped forward to hand her the physic paper while Francesco circled me and Amy like an animal circling his prey.

"Well, now I see what got my Steward so excited. What say you, Francesco? Do you like them?"

"Oh, I do, Mother. I do." Said freaky boy.

"Then we would be delighted to accept them." Rosanna said with a smile. "Say goodbye to your sisters." She said, but didn't give Rory a chance. He was hustled off by the Steward before Rory could even say anything.

"Tell Uncle Doctor we'll see you both really soon, okay? We'll be fine." I told him, trying to calm his high nerves.

"Amy! Ester!"

***

Carlo led me and Amy up a stone staircase to the dorms, which held several large beds and sat under a beautifully decorated dome.

"There are clothes on the beds. Get changed and wait here." We were told.

"Blimey. This is private education, then?" Amy said, looking around the room as I stayed quiet. Carlo then left with all of the girls but one.

"Hey. Hello, I'm Amy, and this is Ester. What's your name?" Amy asked the girl.

"Isabella."

"Isabella." I said. "Listen, we're going to get you out of here, but we need you to tell us what's going on. What is this place? What are they doing?" I asked her.

"They er, they come at night. They gather around my bed, and they take me to a room with this green light and a chair with straps, as if for a surgeon." She told us.

"What happens in there?" I asked.

"I wake up here. And the sunlight burns my skin like candle wax." She said as a bell rang out through the city.

***

Amy and I were fighting for our lives.

We were taken in the night, like Isabella had told us. We were taken to a cellar filled with green lights and tables with straps.

"Control yourself, child." Carlo told Amy as she fought against him. I fought against the man holding me, but he remained silent.

"Take your hands off me!"

"Psychic paper. Did you really think that would work on me?" Rosanna asked as we were dragged in.

"Well, to be honest, it works on most people." I told her with a grunt as I fought the man holding me. He tightened his grip on my arms yet again, probably leaving marks on my arms.

"Where are you from? Did you fall through the Chasm?" She asked me.

"Mother this is pointless. Let's just start the process and-"

"Hold your tongue, Francesco. I need to know what these girls are doing in a world of savages with psychic paper. Who are you with? You see, I scarcely believe your idiot brother sent you. What are you doing in my school?" She asked as two chairs were brought forward with drip bags for me and Amy.

"Okay, I'll tell you. We're from Ofsted." Amy told her, getting a laugh form Rosanna.

"Put them in the chairs." She ordered.

The grip tightened and I was strapped into the chair, and an iv was put into my vein.

"No! Take your hands off me!"

I looked over to Amy to see that they had done the same to her. Francesco was hold Amy's head, tilting it to the side.

"Oh, make sport of me, will you? Tease me as if I were your dog? Well, this dog has a bite, girl." Rosanna said as she went to bite Amy's neck.

"Ester!" She shouted as the teeth sunk into her neck. I couldn't speak, no words coming out not mater how hard I tried.

"Mother, where you drink from her, may we share? I'm so thirsty."

"Of course, darling." She said, offering Amy to her son. "This is how it works. First, we drink you until you're dry. Then we fill you with our blood. It rages through you like a fire, changing you, until one morning you awake and your humanity is a dream now faded." She explained to us.

"Or you die. That can happen." We were told by Francesco, making my hearts feel like lead in my chest.

"And if we survive?" I croaked.

"Then there are ten thousand husbands waiting for you in the water." She told us.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm kind of engaged." Amy said, kicking Rosanna, who briefly transformed into her true self, some kind of crustacean looking alien.

"Oh! Rory, come on." I heard the Doctor said and my hearts sped up as the three aliens ran out of the room, leaving us with the girls.

"Cab for Amy Pond and Ester Tyler?" I heard him say, giving me much needed hope.

Isabella came over to me, freeing me from the chair and pulling the iv out of my arm. I used my sonic to break Amy out, and I helped her back to her feet, supporting her body.

"She bit me." Amy told me in shock.

"It's alright, I've got you. You're safe Pond." I told her, holding one of her hands in mine as I helped her to the door. She was too light headed for my liking, and I was thinking of quick ways I could get her red blood cell count back up to where it should be.

Isabella lead the two of us to the hall, where the Doctor was fighting off the creatures with a UV light.

"Ah ha!" He said, not seeing me and Amy yet.

"Rory." Amy sighed in relief, seeing her fiancé.

"Amy." Rory said in a similar tone, going over to her.

"Quickly, through here." Isabella said, showing us a trap door.

"Seal the house!"

***

"They're not vampires." I told the Doctor as we walked trough the tunnel.

"What?" He asked.

"We saw them. We saw her. They're not vampires, they're aliens." I continued. "I'm not sure which, but they definitely aren't vampires. I told him as I soniced the hatch to the trap door, opening it up to us.

"Classic." He said once I got it open, him holding the light.

"That's good news? What is wrong with you people?" Rory asked.

"Come on, Rory. Move." The Doctor ordered as we went through the hatch. I tried to stay with him when the "vampires" caught up to him, but he just kept pushing me ahead, leaving himself to fight with his UV light stick. "Keep moving. Come on, guys."

"Quickly, quickly. Get out. Quick. Quick." Isabella said once we got outside. She tried to join us to her father, but the sun burned her skin.  
"Come on. Run."

"I can't." She said before she was trapped by the heavy door that closed between us and her. The Doctor and I both went to open the door to get her out, but we were electrocuted as soon as we touched the door. We fell to the ground, me landing on his chest, and the last thing I heard before the darkness took over me was the double beats of his hearts.

***

A few hours later and the Doctor and I found our selfs awake and in the thrown room. The Doctor was sitting in the thrown as I sat on the arm of the chair, leaning against his side for extra support. The large doors opened and Rosanna walked in to see us sitting where she belonged.

"Long way from Saturnyne, aren't you, Sister of the Water?" The Doctor asked.

"No, let me guess. The owner of the psychic paper. Then I take it you're a refugee, like me?" She questioned.

"I'll make you a deal. An answer for an answer. You're using a perception filter. It doesn't change your features, but manipulates the brainwaves of the person looking at you. But seeing one of you for the first time in, say, a mirror, the brain doesn't know what to fill the gap with, so leaves it blank, hence no reflection."

"Your question?"

"Why can we see your big teeth?" I asked.

"Self preservation over rides the mirage. The subconscious perceives the threat and tries to alert the conscious brain." She explained.

"Where's Isabella?" We asked next.

"My turn. Where are you from?"

"Gallifrey." We both said together.

"You two should be in a museum. Or in a mausoleum." She said, looking at us with wide eyes.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"We ran from the Silence. Why are you here?" She said.

"Wedding present. The Silence?" The Doctor asked.

"There were cracks. Some were tiny. Some were as big as the sky. Through some we saw worlds and people, and through others we saw Silence and the end of all things. We fled to an ocean like ours, and the crack snapped shut behind us. Saturnyne was lost."

"So Earth is to become Saturnyne Mark Two?" He questioned.

"And you can help me. We can build a new society here, as others have. What do you say?" She offered us.

"Where's Isabella?" I repeated.

"Isabella?"

"The girl who saved me and my friend." I asked.

"Oh, deserters must be executed. Any general will tell you that. I need an answer, Ester, Doctor. A partnership. Any which way you choose."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, do you? I'm a Time Lord. You're a big fish. Think of the children." I told her, giving her a mock sad smile.

"Carlo? You're right. We're nothing alike. I will bend the heavens to save my race, while you philosophize." She said, calling in Carlo, who just happened to bring in his friend that carried me earlier.

"This ends today. We will tear down the House of Calvierri, stone by stone." The Doctor said as we were both taken a hold of, him lighter than me. "Get your hands off of her." He said to the guy holding me just as tight as he did before, he didn't listen. "And you know why? You didn't know Isabella's name. You didn't know Isabella's name!" He called as we were escorted out of the room.

***

We were back at Guido's house, sitting around the table once again. The Doctor scanned Amy's neck where her puncture wounds were. "You're fine. Open wide." She compiled and he placed a biscuit in her mouth. I had changed back into my jeans and tee shirt, happy to be out of all of those skirts.

"You have bruises on you arm. The Doctor said, carefully grabbing my arm and looking at the finger marks left on my upper arm. "Who hurt you?" The Doctor said deathly serious, a way I had hardly seen, as he looked into my eyes.

"It's just some bruises." I said quietly, trying not to draw any unnecessary attention from the other three.

"Ester." He said, not losing my gaze.

"It's from that guy from earlier." I told him. "He's got a tight grip." I said with a small laugh, trying to make him lighten up.

I could have sworn I heard a small growl come from deep in his throat, but I hoped I didn't.

"I'm fine, honestly." I told him. "I've done worse to myself walking from the console room to my bed room." I said with a small laugh, causing his gaze to soften a bit. I felt his hand slip into to mine and I gave it a squeeze, resting my head on his shoulder, just wanting to be close to him.

"Argh. I need to think. Come on, brain. Think, think, think. Think." The Doctor repeated. I ran my thumb over the back of his hand, trying to calm him down a little.

"If they're fish people, it explains why they hate the sun." Amy said.

"Stop talking. Brain thinking. Hush." The Doctor said, putting a finger over Amy's lips.

"It's the school thing I don't understand." Rory said.

"Stop talking. Brain thinking. Hush." The Doctor repeated. I put a finger on Rory's lips, considering I was holding the Doctor's other hand.

"I say we take the fight to them." Guido suggested.

"Ah, ah, ah." The Doctor said before we looked to Rory, who then put one of his fingers on Guido's lips.

"Ah. Her planet dies, so they flee through a crack in space and time and end up here. Then she closes off the city and, one by one, starts changing the people into creatures like her to start a new gene pool. Got it. But then what? They come from the sea. They can't survive for ever on land, so what's she going to do? Unless she's going to do something to the environment to make the city habitable. She said, I shall bend the heavens to save my race. Bend the heavens. Bend the heavens. She's going to sink Venice." The Doctor rambled, coming to a conclusion.

"She's going to sink Venice?" Guido asked.

"And repopulate it with the girls she's transformed." The Doctor nodded.

"You can't repopulate somewhere with just women. You need blokes." Rory pointed out.

"She's got blokes." Me and Amy said.

"Where?"

"In the canal. She said to us there are ten thousand husbands waiting in the water." Amy quoted.

"Only the male offspring survived the journey here. She's got ten thousand children swimming around the canals, waiting for Mum to make them some compatible girlfriends. Urgh. I mean, I've been around a bit, but really that's, that's eugh." The Doctor said, disgusted.

There was a thump and scream come from above our heads.

"The people upstairs are very noisy." The Doctor said.

"There aren't any people upstairs." Guido told us.

"Do you know, I knew you were going to say that. Did anyone else know he was going to say that?" I said with a sigh.

"Is it the vampires?"

"Like I said, they're not vampires. Fish from space." The Doctor corrected before a window broke and we saw the girls scrounging all the doors and windows.

"Aren't we on the second floor?" Rory asked. The Doctor and I stood up, taking out the UV light while I used my sonic to show their true appearance.

"What's happened to them?" Guido asked, alarmed.

"There's nothing left of them. They've been fully converted. Blimey, fish from space have never been so buxom." The Doctor said, earning himself a slap. "Okay, move."

"Come on." Rory said, dragging Amy.

"Give me the lamp." Guido said when we were on the staircase. The Doctor handed him the lamp.

"Go, go, go, guys. Keep moving. Go, go, go." We shouted.

"Stay away from the door, Doctor." Guido told us when we were outside, running back in himself.

"No. Guido, What are you doing?" I asked as he closed the door with him inside his house.

"I'm not leaving you. What are you doing?" The Doctor asked. I soniced the door, but it didn't open.

"Argh, bolted." I groaned.

"Guido!"

We ran as fast as we could away from the house, it exploding in a ball of fire as we ran.

***

"Rosanna's initiating the final phase." The Doctor said as the four of us looked up at the storm-filled sky.

"We need to stop her. Come on." Amy said.

"No, no, no. Get back to the TARDIS." He said.

"You two can't stop her on your own." Amy argued. I wasn't sure why he was doing this, but I stayed silent.

"We don't discuss this. I tell you to do something, Amy, and you do it. Huh?" He said. Amy gave him a dirty look and stormed off.

"Thank you." Rory said, going after her. Ah, so that was the reason.

"You're welcome."

***

"You're too late." Rosanna said once we had opened the back of the thrown, exposing the wires that were hidden underneath. "Such determination, just to save one city. Hard to believe it's the same man that let an entire race turn to cinders and ash. Now you can watch as my people take their new kingdom."

"The girls have gone, Rosanna." I told her.

"You're lying." She said, wide eyed.

"Shouldn't we be dead, hmm? Rosanna, please, help us. There are two hundred thousand people in this city." I pleaded.

"So save them." She said bitterly, leaving the room. We continued to work, trying to stop the storm, but it only got worse with each passing minute.

"Get out. I need to stabilize the storm." The Doctor said when we saw Amy and Rory enter the room.

"We're not leaving you." Rory said.

"Right, so one minute it's all you make people a danger to themselves, and the next it's we're not leaving you. But if one of you gets squashed or blown up or eaten, who gets the-" the Doctor was cut off when the ground beneath us shook, knocking us all off our feet.

"What was that?" Rory asked.

"Nothing. Bit of an earthquake." I said.

"An earthquake?" Amy asked.

"Manipulate the elements, it can trigger earthquakes. But don't worry about them." I told the two of them.

"No?"

"No. Worry about the tidal waves caused by the earthquake." The Doctor told them. "Right, Rosanna's throne is the control hub but she's locked the program, so, tear out every single wire and circuit in the throne. Go crazy. Hit it with a stick-"

"-A big stick-"

"-anything. We need it to shut down and re-route control to the secondary hub, which I'm guessing will also be the generator." The Doctor said as we left them to run to the bell tower.

"You know, last time we had Martha to do this." I said as we climbed up the ringing bell tower.

"Shut up. Shut up." He groaned at the bell, sonicing the it and causing it to stop ringing. "That's better."

"Much." I agreed as we kept climbing. We climbed the metal bell with the help of a rouge power cord, not the safest thing to be doing in the middle of the storm, but hey, live while you can, right?

"Oh. Oh. Okay." We got to the top of the bell, and opened the brass ball to reveal some clockwork. There was a tiny switch, which we flipped and the stir instantaneously stopped. The rain went away, the wind stopped, the waters calmed, and the sun came out to a cloudless sky. From the tower, we could hear the cheers and clapping of the townspeople below.

***

"Rosanna!" We yelled, running to the pier to find her standing in an underdress, ready to jump.

"One city to save an entire species. Was that so much to ask?" She questioned.

"We told you, you can't go back and change time. You mourn, but you live. We know, Rosanna. We did it. We're still doing it to this day." I cried.

"Tell me. Can your conscience carry the weight of another dead race? Remember us. Dream of us." She said, falling into the water to be consumed by her own sons.

"No! No!"

***

"Now then, what about you two, eh? Next stop Leadworth Registry Office. Maybe I can give you away." The Doctor said as the four of us walked to the TARDIS.

"It's fine." Rory said. "Drop me back where you found me. I'll just say you've-"

"Stay." Amy interrupted him, bringing a warm smile to my face. "With us. Please. Just for a bit. I want you to stay."

"Fine with me." The Doctor approved.

"Oh, I'd love to have you." I told Rory.

"Yeah? Yes, I would like that." He said with a grin, smiling at Amy.

"Nice one. I will pop the kettle on. Hey, look at this. Got my spaceship, got my best friend, got my boys. My work here is done." Amy said, going into the TARDIS.

"Er, we are not her boys." Rory said, causing me to laugh.

"Yes you are." I told him.

"Yeah, we are." The Doctor said.

"Yeah, we are."

And then something was off.

"Rory, listen to that." The Doctor said, noticing it too.

"Er, what? All I can hear is silence." Rory said.

_There were cracks. Through some we saw Silence and the end of all things._


	16. An Idiot Named Adam

"Bye Ester." Amy said, giving me one final hug before I walked out of the TARDIS and back into my flat.

"Bye Amy, watch over those two boys now." I said, looking over at Rory and the Doctor. "We can't have them getting into any unnecesary trouble, now can we?" I asked a smirk on my face.

"I'll try, but until one of you get back, I'm out numbered." She pointed out with a small laugh.

"That you are, Amelia Pond. Good luck."

"Bye Ester." Rory said, pulling me in for a small, slightly awkward hug.

"Bye Rory."

The Doctor walked me out, leaving the two of them in the TARDIS while he stepped into my living room with me.

"Thanks." I said, dropping my bag on the couch.

"No problem. See you soon?"

"You better." I told him, a smirk on my face. He let out a laugh, pulling me close to him as he wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace.

It was nice to just stand there, wrapped in his arms, feeling like there was nothing in the world that could stop that moment from happening. I felt safe and warm, like nothing could come between us.

He pressed a light kiss on the top of my head, loosening his grip on me. "See ya around, yeah?" He asked, looking down into my eyes. "Have fun with whatever version of me you get stuck with next."

"Only if you do the same." I told him. he gave me a smile, before disappearing off into the TARDIS, flying away as the two of them always did. The Doctor and our TARDIS.

***

I was picked up just a few hours later, by Nine and Rose.

"Hey." I said, as Rose pulled me into a tight hug when I stepped onto the TARDIS. "Everything alright?" I asked, looking over her shoulder at the Doctor, seeing if I could get any information out of him.

"A bloke." Rose said.

"Mickey?" I asked, wondering what the idiot had done this time.

"No, not Mickey." Rose sighed, going over to the jump seat while the Doctor flew us into the Time Vortex.

"Then who?" I questioned.

"His name's Adam." The Doctor said, looking at the blank face I had. "I'm guessing you haven't met Adam, then." The Doctor said.

"Do we like Adam?" I asked, answering his question. "Sorry, the last thing I did with the two of you was 10 Downing Street." I said, trying to say something that wouldn't spoil anything for them had they not done it yet.

"Slitheen?" Rose and the Doctor asked together.

"Yeah, that's the one." I said with a smile. "Back to the original question, do we like Adam?"

"We don't." The Doctor said, motioning to the two of us. "Rose on the other hand..."

"What about Mickey?" I asked, wondering if my sister had broken up with her boyfriend.

"I don't know." She said. "It would be different if he was traveling with us..." Rose said, looking over to the Doctor.

"No way." He said, not having it. "I'm not having Rickey the Idiot on my ship any time soon. I'd have to die before I'd let that happen." He argued, putting his foot down.

"Oh the irony." I said to myself, laughing at the memory of Mickey on the TARDIS when we went on the Reinette adventure.

"What was that?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, spoilers." I told him, still laughing a little. "But what did this Adam kid do?" I asked my sister. "Spoilers free of course."

"Something idiotic." The Doctor said, before she could even get a word in. "Purely idiotic. And we just dropped him off at his house."

I looked at Rose, seeing if he was over reacting or not. "He deserved it." Rose said, nodding in agreement.

"So, the Adam kid that I don't apparently like screwed up and we just dropped him off at his home?" I asked, slightly confused.

"Yeah."

"Spot on."

"Well." I said, trying to gather my thoughts. "I guess I'll just have to live it to get the full story, won't I?"

"That's how these things normally work, don't they?" The Doctor asked, a smirk on his face.

"I guess, but I don't think any of us can honestly say that the three of us are normal, eh?" I said with a laugh.

"Oh, definitely not!" Rose laughed, joining in with me.

"Where's the fun in normal?"


	17. Father's Day

"Peter Alan Tyler my dad. The most wonderful man in the world. Born the 15th of September 1954." Rose told the Doctor, quoting Mum word for word. "She would always break out that old photo album and have me, and Ester once she came around, come up on her bed with her as we would flip through the pictures.

"Who's that? It's your daddy. You weren't old enough to remember when he died. 1987, 7th of November. Do you remember what I told you? The day that Stuart Hoskins and Sarah Clarke got married. He was always having adventures. Oh, he would have loved to have seen you now. And he would just love you to bits, both of you." She continued, quoting Mum. "That's what Mum always says. So I was thinking, could we, could we go and see my dad when he was still alive?" Rose asked, surprising me as well as the Doctor.

"Where's this come from, all of a sudden?" The Doctor asked, looking at Rose, concerned.

"All right then, if we can't, if it goes against the laws of times or something, then never mind, just leave it." Rose said, quickly dismissing the idea.

"No, we can do anything. I'm just more worried about you." The Doctor told her.

"We don't want you getting hurt." I told her, voicing both of our fears.

"I want to see him." She said.

"Your wish is our command. But be careful what you wish for." The Doctor said as we started flying the TARDIS to Mum and Dad's wedding day.

We sat in the back, not wanting to be noticed as someone neither the bride or groom knew.

"I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Angela Suzette Prentice," The Officiant told Pete Tyler.

"I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Suzanne Suzette Anita-" He struggled, trying to get her name right.

"Oh, just carry on. It's good enough for Lady Di." Mum said, waving it off in typical Jackie fashion.

"I thought he'd be taller." Rose whispered to us as we looked in.

"To be my lawful wedded wife, to love and behold till death us do part." The officiant continued.

' _He died so close to home_.' I remembered Mum telling us _. 'I wasn't there. Nobody was. It was a hit and run driver. Never found out who. He was dead when the ambulance got there. I only wish there'd been someone there for him.'_

"I want to be that someone, so he doesn't die alone." Rose told me and the Doctor once the three of us were back on the TARDIS.

"November the 7th?" The Doctor asked, checking the date.

"1987." Me and Rose said together, I turned to her and gave her a sad smile.

We parked the TARDIS right by the intersection where Rose's father would inevitably die.

"It's so weird. The day my father died. I thought it'd be all sort of grim and stormy. It's just an ordinary day." She said in a solemn tone.

"The past is another country. 1987's just the Isle of Wight. Are you sure about this?" The Doctor asked.

"Yeah." Rose said, grabbing my hand in her's, needing my support. "This is it. Jordan Road. He was late. He'd been to get a wedding present, a vase. Mum always said, that stupid vase." She said sadly. We looked across the street to see Pete getting out of his car as a beige car came around the corner. "He got out of his car. And crossed the road." She said, her voice breaking when she realized this was really going to happen. "Oh, God. This is it." She said as the Doctor took her other hand. The car came straight at Pete, the driver shielding his face with his arm, hitting Pete who fell to the ground, the vase shattering when it hit the cement.

"Go to him, quick." I told her, but she made no movement. Sirens filled the air.

"It's too late now. By the time the ambulance got there, he was dead." She said. "He can't die on his own. Can I try again?" Rose cried, looking at the two of us.

So we did.

"Right, that's the first you, Ester and me." The Doctor said, pointing at the three of us who couldn't see us from where we were on the other side of the street.

"It's a very bad idea, two sets of us being here at the same time. Just be careful they don't see us." I told her. "Wait till she runs off and they follows, then go to your dad."

"I can't do this." Rose said in a pained tone as events unfolded in front of us again.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to, but this is the last time we can be here." The Doctor told her. Before me and the Doctor knew what was happening, Rose was running to her father before he was hit, running past the old us who promptly disappeared.

"Rose! No!" We yelled, trying to stop her. She pushed her father out of the way of the car, saving his life, and creating a paradox. 

***

"Right, there we go." Pete said as the four of us went into a younger, and messier, version of our flat. "Sorry about the mess. If you want a cup of tea, the kitchens just down there, milk's in the fridge. Well, it would be, wouldn't it. Where else would you put the milk? Mind you, there's always the window sill outside. I always thought if someone invented a window sill with special compartments, you know, one for milk, one for yogurt, make a lot of money out of that. Sell it to students and things. I should write that down. Anyway, never mind that, excuse me for a minute. Got to go and change." Pete said quickly, going off into his and Mum's room.

"All the stuff Mum kept. His stuff. She kept it all packed away in boxes in the cupboard. She used to show me when she'd had a bit to drink. Here it is, on display. Where it should be. Third prize at the bowling. First two got to go to Didcot. Health drinks. Tonics, Mum used to call them. He made his money selling this Vitex stuff. He had all sorts of jobs. He was so clever. Solar power. Mum said he was going to do this. Now he can." Rose said, looking over at a peeved Doctor. "Okay, look I'll tell him you're not my boyfriend." She said, thinking that was what was wrong.

"When we met, I said travel with me in space. You said no. Then I said time machine." He said, thinking she was using him.

"It wasn't some big plan." Rose told him.

"If you remember, it was me who initially agreed, not her." I told him, defending my sister.

"I just saw it happening and I thought, I can stop it." Rose explained.

"I did it again. I picked another stupid ape. I should've known. It's not about showing you the universe. It never is. It's about the universe doing something for you!" He exclaimed, getting mad.

"So it's okay when you go to other times, and you save people's lives, but not when it's me saving my Dad?" She argued, getting mad as well.

"I know what I'm doing, you don't. Two sets of us being there made that a vulnerable point." He said, pointing that clear fact out.

"But he's alive!"

"Our entire planet died. My whole family. Ester's family. All of our friends. Do you think it never occurred to either one of us to go back and save them?"

"But it's not like I've changed history. Not much. I mean he's never going to be a world leader. He's not going to start World War Three or anything."

"Rose, there's a man alive in the world who wasn't alive before. An ordinary man. That's the most important thing in creation. The whole world's different because he's alive." I explained, keeping my voice calm.

"What, would you rather him dead?"

"I'm not saying that. Neither one of us are it's just-"

"No, I get it! For once, you're not the most important people in my life!"

"Let's see how you get on without me, then. Give me the key. The TARDIS key. If I'm so insignificant, give it back." He ordered.

"All right then, I will." Rose said, handing him the TARDIS key.

"You've got what you wanted, so that's goodbye, then." He said before I could get a word in.

"You're not leaving her!" I exclaimed.

"Oh really? You're deciding what I can and can't do now?" He yelled, turning to me.

"No, but I'm not leaving my sister in a different time period!" I yelled at him, my blood running hot through my veins.

"Fine, well I'm going. Maybe a different version of me will pick the two of you up and wisk you away!" He yelled at me.

"Maybe he WILL!" I screamed at him. He gave me a dirty look before leaving the flat, slamming the door behind him.

"That  _idiot_!" I yelled, wanting to kick something, but I didn't want to put a hole in the wall or door. My hearts were racing and I was breathing heavy, it had been a rather long time since I had gotten this angry.

"Boyfriend trouble?" Pete asked me, peeping his head through the door.

***

"Excuse me, do you mind? What're you tidying up for?" Pete asked when he came back into the living room in his tux to find me and Rose cleaning, me still fuming.

"Sorry. Force of habit." I said, forcing a fake smile.

"Listen, don't worry about him. Couples have rows all the time." He told me.

"We aren't a couple." I told him.

"I think he's left us." Rose told her dad.

"What, a pretty girl like you? If I was going out with either of you-" Pete said.

"Stop, just stop."

"Stop right there."

"I was just saying-"

"I know what you're saying, and we're not going there. At no point are we going anywhere near there. You aren't even aware that there exists. I don't even want to think about there, and believe me, neither do you. There for you is like, like the Bermuda Triangle." Rose rambled, disgusted.

"Blimey, you know how to flatter a bloke." Pete said.

"Good, then I've taught my little sister well."

"Sister?"

"Adopted." I explained, knowing we didn't look much alike.

"Right, are we off?" Rose asked, offering her dad her arm.

"So, that wouldn't be a mixed signal at all?" Pete asked

"Absolutely not." Me and Rose said.

"I'll take you back to the loony bin where you belong. Except I'm sure I've met you somewhere before." Pete said.

***

"I met this bloke at the horse's, and he's cutting me in on copyright." Pete told us as we were in his car, Rose sitting in the front and me sitting in the back.

"But I thought you were a proper businessman and that." Rose said.

"I wish! Oh, I do a bit of this, a bit of that. I scrape by." He told her.

"Right. So I must've heard wrong. So, really you're a bit of a Del Boy?"

"Oh, shoot me down in flames. You're not related to my wife by any chance, are you?" Pete asked.

"Oh, my God. She's going to be at the wedding." Rose asked, eyes wide.

"What, Jackie? Do you know her?" Pete asked.

"Sort of." We said.

"What's she told you about me, then?"

"She said she'd picked the most fantastic man in the world." Rose told him, saying what Mum had told us since I could remember.

"Must be a different Jackie, then. She'd never say that." Pete said. "This stuff goes right over my head." Pete said when Rose pulled out her cell phone.

"That's not out yet." She told him.

"It's a good job and all."

"I'm just going to check my messages."

"How do you mean, messages? Is that a phone?" He asked.

"Yeah."

I looked out the front window to see the car that should have killed Pete come straight at us.

"Dad!" Rose yelled. Pete swerved, barely missing a tree.

"It's that car. Same one as before." Pete said as we walked out of the car and up to the church. "It was right in front of us. Where's he gone? You called me Dad. What'd you say that for?" He asked. 

"Oh, wonderful. Here he is, the accident waiting to happen. You'd be late for your own funeral and it nearly was!" Mum said, looking much younger, holding a baby, and sporting bigger hair than normal.

"No damage done." Pete told his wife.

"And who's this? What're you looking at with your mouth open?" Mum asked, questioning me and Rose.

"Your hair." Me and Rose said.

"What?!" Mum asked, insulted.

"I've never seen it like. I mean, it's lovely. Your hair's lovely. And that baby you're holding. That would be your baby." Rose said, realizing that it was her.

"Another one of yours, are they?

"She saved my life!" Pete exclaimed, pointing at Rose.

"Oh, that's a new one. What was it last time?" Mum asked.

"I didn't even know her. She was a cloakroom attendant. I was helping her look for my ticket. There were three duffel coats all the same. Somehow the rack collapsed. We were under all this stuff." Pete said, trying to cover up whatever he had gotten up to with the cloakroom girl.

"Were you playing around?" Rose asked, appalled.

"What's it got to do with you what he gets up to?" Mum asked her.

"What does he get up to?" I asked.

"You'd know." Mum told me.

"Oh, 'cos I'm that stupid. I play around and I bring them to meet the missus. You silly cow."

"But you are that stupid."

"Can we keep this stuff back home just for now?"

"What, with the rest of the rubbish? You bring home cut-price detergents, tonic water, Betamax tapes and none of it works. I'm drowning in your rubbish. What did he tell you? Did he say he's this big businessman, 'cos he's not. He's a failure. Born failure, that one. Rose needs a proper father, not one who's flanneling about like some big kid." Mum said.

"Jackie, I'm making a living, it keeps us fed, don't it?"

"Stop it!" Rose yelled, getting overwhelmed. "You're not like this. You love each other!"

"Oh, Pete. You never used to like them mental. Or I don't know, maybe you did." Mum said, getting ready to storm off.

"Jackie, wait, just listen." Pete begged.

"If you're not careful, there'll be a wedding and a divorce on the same day." Mum said, storming off.

"Wait here. Give us a couple of minutes with the missus. Tell you what, straighten the car up. Stick it round the corner or something. Don't cause anymore trouble." Pete said, giving Rose the car keys.

"Rose! Ester! Get in the church!" I heard the Doctor yell form behind us.

I looked behind the Doctor to see a large demonic looking thing fly through the air, starting to swoop. Rose screamed, and the Doctor pushed the two of us to the ground, getting us out of the way of the time beast caused by the paradox.

"Get in the church!" He ordered us. I stood up, puling Rose with me as we ran.

Two more appeared.

"Oh, my God. What are they? What are they?" I heard the bride, Sarah ask.

"Inside!"

"Sarah!" Stuart, the groom, yelled.

"Stay in there!" The Doctor said when me and Rose ran in,

The Doctor ran inside, slamming the church doors, keeping the creatures out.

"They can't get in. Old windows and doors. Okay. The older something is, the stronger it is. What else? Go and check the other doors! Move!" He told us.

"What's happening? What are they? What are they?" Mum screeched.

"There's been an accident in time. A wound in time. They're like bacteria, taking advantage." I told her.

"What do you mean, time? What're you jabbering on about, time?" Mum asked.

"Oh, I might've known you'd argue. Jackie, I'm sick of you complaining." The Doctor said.

"How do you know my name?"

"I haven't got time for this." He said, trying to escape her, unsuccessfully of course.

"I've never met you in my life!"

"No, and you never will unless I sort this out. Now, if you don't mind, I've waited a long time to say this. Jackie Tyler, do as I say. Go and check the doors." He ordered.

"Yes, sir."

"I should have done that ages ago." He sighed once Mum left. Had I not still been angry at him, I would have smiled.

"My dad was out there." Stuart told us.

"You can mourn him later. Right now we've got to concentrate on keeping ourselves alive." The Doctor said.

"My dad had-"

"There's nothing I can do for him."

"No, but he had this phone thing. I can't get it to work. I keep getting this voice." He said, showing it to us.

"Watson, come here. I need you. Watson, come here. I need you." Came the voice of Alexander Graham Bell.

"That's the very first phone call. Alexander Graham Bell. I don't think the telephone's going to be much use." I told him, handing him the phone back.

"But someone must have called the police."

"Police can't help you now. No one can. Nothing in this universe can harm those things. Time's been damaged and they've come to sterilise the wound. By consuming everything inside."

"Is this because? Is this my fault?" Rose asked. Me and the Doctor said nothing.

***

Rose and I were standing next to the alter, having nothing to do. The Doctor hadn't said anything to either of us, and I wasn't planing on talking to him. I wasn't going to forgive him easily.

Pete came out of a room, finding me and Rose.

"This mate of yours. What did he mean, this is your fault?" He asked Rose.

"Don't know. Just everything." Rose sighed.

"I gave you my car keys. You don't give your keys to a complete stranger. It's, it's like I trusted you. Moment I met you, I just did. Wound in time. You called me Dad. I can see it. My eyes, Jackie's attitude. You sound like her when you shout. You are. You are. You're my Rose. You're my Rose grown up." He said, putting the pieces together. Rose was in tears by this point, and the two of them hugged, her crying into his shoulder.

"Dad. My Dad. My Daddy." She cried.

"I'm a dad. I mean, I'm already a dad, but Rose grows up and she's you. That's wonderful. I mean, I suppose I thought that you'd be a bit useless, what with my useless genes and all, but. Well, I mean, how did you get here? Is Ester really your sister? She looks older." Pete asked.

"Like I said, adopted." I told him, not wanting to get into the whole "Guess who's an alien" discussion.

"How did you get here."

"Do you really want to know?" Rose asked him.

"Yeah."

"A time machine." She said, a grin on her face.

"Time machine." He repeated in awe.

"Cross my heart." Rose promised.

"What, do you all have time machines where you come from?" He asked.

"No, just Ester and the Doctor." Whelp, there went that plan.

"Did you know these things were coming?"

"No." We said.

"God, I don't know, my head's spinning. What's the future like?" He wondered.

"It's not so different." She told her father.

"What am I like? Have I gone grey? Have I gone bald? Don't tell me I've gone bald. So, if this mate of yours isn't your boyfriend and I have to say, I'm glad, because being your dad and all, I think he's a bit old for you. Have you got a bloke?" He questioned.

"No, I did have-" Rose was then cut off.

"Mickey!" We heard Mum yell before a little Mickey ran in and hugged Rose's legs.

"Do you know him?" Pete asked.

"I just didn't recognise him in a suit. You have to let go of me, sweetheart. I'm always saying that." Rose said.

"He just grabs hold of what's passing and holds on for dear life. God help his poor girlfriend if he ever gets one." Mum said, causing me to laugh.

"Me and Rose were just talking."

"Oh, yeah? Talking? While the world comes to an end, what do you do? Cling to the youngest blonde. Come on, Mick." Mum said, taking Mickey and leaving.

"You can't tell her." We both told him when he was about to go after her.

"Why?" Pete asked.

"I mean, we really don't want you to tell her."

"What, do you don't want people to know?"

"Where we come from, Jackie doesn't know how to work the timer on the video recorder." I told him.

"I showed her that last week." He said, me and Rose gave him a look. "Point taken."

***

"Now, Rose you're not going to bring about the end of the world, are you? Are you?" The Doctor said, talking to baby Rose. "Jackie gave her to me to look after. How times change." He said.

"I'd better be careful. I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken." Rose told him, going to pick the baby up.

"No. Don't touch the baby. You're both the same person. That's a paradox, and we don't want a paradox happening, not with these things outside. Anything new, any disturbance in time makes them stronger. The paradox might let them in." I told her.

"Can't do anything right, can I?"

"Since you ask, no. So, don't touch the baby." He told her.

"I'm not stupid." She told him.

"You could have fooled me." He told her.

"Hey!" I said, taking the baby from his arms.

"Still mad then?" He asked.

"What do you think?" I asked bitterly.

"All right, I'm sorry. I wasn't really going to leave you on your own." He said.

"I know." Rose said, giving him a small smile while I fought against the part of me that wanted to do the same.

"But between you and me, I haven't got a plan. No idea. No way out." He sighed.

"The two of you'll think of something." Rose said, sure of herself.

"The entire Earth's been sterilized. This, and other place like it, are all that's left of the human race. We might hold out for a while, but nothing can stop those creatures. They'll get through in the end. The walls aren't that old. And there's nothing I can do to stop them. There used to be laws stopping this kind of thing from happening. Our people would have stopped this. But they're all gone. And now we're going the same way." The Doctor said, looking at me.

"If I'd realized." Rose said, apologizing.

"Just tell me you're sorry." He said.

"I am. I'm sorry." She told him before he pulled her in for a tight hug. I felt a hot pain coming from my chest and I looked down to see my TARDIS key was glowing hot from around my neck. I held it by the chain, keeping the key off me and the baby.

"Have you got something hot?" Rose asked, reaching in his coat pocket and finding the key, dropping it on the ground.

"It's the TARDIS key!" He exclaimed.

"My key is doing it too." I told him, motioning to the burning piece of metal. He took off his jacket to pick up the key as I carefully took my necklace off.

"It's telling us it's still connected to the TARDIS." He said, running to the pulpit to talk to everyone. "The inside of my ship was thrown out of the wound but we can use this to bring it back. And once I've got my ship back, then I can mend everything. Now, I just need a bit of power. Has anybody got a battery?" He asked the crowd, Stuart came forward with his dad's phone in hand.

"This one big enough?" He asked.

"Fantastic."

"Good old dad. There you go." He handed the phone to the Doctor.

"Just need to do a bit of charging up and then we can bring everyone back." He said, using the sonic to charge it.

I sat with baby Rose in my arms, my key sitting on the bench next to me.

"You know." I told the baby, Her looking into my eyes. "In a few years, you're gonna properly meet me, and we're going to have a lot of fun." I said, smiling at the memories. "We're going to get into so much trouble, but Mum can't stay too mad when you look at her with those big eyes of your's; remember that kid. And make sure I don't get too caught up in my visions, I can get into some dark places if I let myself, and you're always good at getting me out of them." I said, pressing a kiss to the top of Rose's head. "Oh, we're going to have so much fun, you and I. And we're going to travel with the stupid man over there, and we're going to have the time of our lives together, little sister." I looked down at her, she had fallen asleep in my arms, breathing softly, like nothing in the world could ever get to her.

And then I heard it. That beautiful, all-to-familiar sound of the TARDIS coming back to us. I watched as it materialized around the Doctor's TARDIS key.

"Right, no one touches that key. Have you got that? Don't touch it. Anyone touches that key, it'll be, well, zap. Just leave it be and everything will be fine. We'll get out of here. All of us. Stuart, Sarah you're going to get married, just like I said." He said loudly as the TARDIS continued to fade in and out of sight.

"When time gets sorted out-" Rose started.

"Everybody here forgets what happened. And don't worry, the thing that you changed will stay changed." He told her.

"You mean I'll still be alive, though I'm meant to be dead. That's why I haven't done anything with my life, why I didn't mean anything." Pete said.

"It doesn't work like that." I told him.

"Rubbish. I'm so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all of this has happened." Pete argued.

"This is my fault." Rose told her dad.

"No, love. I'm your dad. It's my job for it to be my fault." He said, smiling at her.

"Her dad?" Mum said, coming over to us. "How are you her dad? How old were you, twelve? Oh, that's disgusting."

"Jacks, listen. This is Rose." He said, pointing to the older of the two Roses.

"Rose? How sick is that? You give my daughter a second hand name? How many are there? Do you call them all Rose?" She asked, her volume escalating.

"Oh, for God's sake, look. It's the same Rose!" Pete said, taking the baby form me and placing her in Rose's arms.

"Rose! No!" Me and the Doctor exclaimed, trying to intercept, but we were too late. The Doctor handed the baby to Mum as a creature appeared inside the building.

"Everyone, behind me! I'm the oldest thing in here." The Doctor yelled.

"Oh no you don't!" I told him, trying to get in front of him, but he just shoved me behind his back, keeping me from the beast.

"Doctor!" I heard Rose yell as the Doctor and the TARDIS were taken away by the beast, his TARDIS key falling to the ground.

"It's cold. The key's cold. Oh, my God, he's dead. This is all my fault. Both of you. All of you. The whole world." Rose said, picking up the key as I stood where he just was, feeling like something inside of me shattered.

He was gone.

He was gone, and I was broken.

***

We had promised each other that we would keep going if something ever happened to the other. But how could I keep that promise if it hurt me to do something as simple as breathing? How could I figure this problem out when I could only think of him? How could I fix this when I could only think about fixing myself?

"Ester?" Rose asked, coming into the small prayer chapel where I was sitting, running my finger over my key and FOB watch. I didn't say anything, staring into space until I felt her presence next to me.

"He's gone." I croaked. Saying the first thing since he died.

"Hey, it's going to be alright."

"No it isn't!" I cried, tears finally breaking free from the barriers I had built up. "It's never going to be alright Rose! The Doctor is dead. He died while I was fighting with him. He died and he didn't know- I didn't tell him- I'll never be able to tell him- I love him, Rose!" I said, voicing my feelings for the first time. She pulled me in to a hug, letting me sob into her shoulder as she rubbed my back. "He'll never know. Why didn't I tell him? All those years, and I've just been too much of a damn coward!" I sobbed, holding my little sister close.

***

I was sitting in the room by myself again, trying to hold on to all my memories I had of the later versions of him, the versions that were erased form time. I thought about sharing the room at Craig's with his Eleventh self, that kiss he gave me after he won the football game, that stupid smirk he had after it. Then Ten, how I had originally thought he was a companion, then seeing his body taken over by Cassandra. Me, him and Rose going for chips shortly after. The jealousy I felt when I saw him and Reinette together, running from Lazarus with him holding my hand, that almost kiss that I ran away from. And them most recently, me, Eleven, Amy and Rory in Venice with the creepy pale girls, how he was so protective of me. All the memories I had to hold on to, praying that they wouldn't fade away.

I wondered what would happen to Amy, Rory, Martha, Mickey, Rose,  _me_...

What would happen if we had no Doctor to save us when things got bad. I might have a younger Doctor and Rose show up at my flat, but those days would soon run out. And would I even be able to bring myself to go with him? To live through this pain all over again as soon as he stopped showing up?

There was a knock on the door to the chapel.

"Go away Rose." I said, my voice like sandpaper.

The door opened, and I didn't look to see who it was, but I knew instantly when leather clad arms wrapped around my front from behind.

"You're-You're alive?" I cried, turning around in his arms, looking into those blue eyes of his with my blood-shot ones. "How are you alive?" I cried, throwing my arms around his neck and put my head on his shoulder.

"Pete Tyler stood in front of the car that was supposed to kill him hours ago; he stopped the paradox." The Doctor explained.

"I can't believe you're here. You're actually here." I said, burying my face in his shoulder.

"You seriously don't think you can get rid of me that easily, do you?" He asked, bringing my head up to look at him properly.

"I'm so sorry." I told him, tears still streaming down my face.

"I am too." He said, sparking something in me that just decided to let go.

"Okay, I'm going to tell you something that I probably should have told you about 600 years ago." I said, taking a deep breath. "And I hope you realize how terrified I am to actually say this to you, but I'm going to do it. I'm actually going to to it this time." I took in a final breath, hoping that he would accept me. "I love you." I told him, looking into those blue eyes, trying to read what he was thinking but there was just too many emotions floating through them. "You-You can forget I even said that, if you want, I don't mind-"

My rambling was cut off by his lips pressed against my own. It was a short kiss, but it was enough to quickly melt my brain and send both of my hearts racing. He pulled back, looking deep into my eyes. "I love you too, Ester Tyler, more than I'd like to admit sometimes." He said, with a grin on his face.

I closed the gap between us this time, already addicted to the feel of his lips on my own; happy to give in to whatever I'd been holding back for centuries.

I had him, and he had me. After all of this time.


	18. Stupid Grins

The Doctor and I walked through the doors to the TARDIS, hand-in-hand with large grins plastered across our faces. Rose was sitting on the jump seat, flipping through a magazine before she looked up to see us.

"Well you two look like the cat that caught the canary." Rose said, putting the magazine on the seat next to her. "What's up with you two?" She asked.

"I just snogged your sister." He said, a stupid grin on his face as we started going around the console unit, flipping switches and turning dials to fly us into the Time Vortex and away from 1987.

"You did what?" She exclaimed, looking at the same stupid grin that I just couldn't take off of my face. "You snogged her? Ester?"

"Yep." He said, grinning over at me, which I happily returned from across the console.

"So what, are the two of you a thing now or something?" Rose asked, coming over to me and looking me over, as if checking to see if I was a ghost or something.

"Yeah." I told her. "Only took me about 600 years, it's about time, eh?" I asked my sister, feeling like I was floating on a cloud, or like I could walk on water; a feeling I hoped stuck around for a while.

"I guess I could say that..." She said. "Are you two sure you're fine enough to fly this thing?" She asked when he accidentally hit a wrong button, causing some sirens to go off. I quickly reversed it and it was like nothing had happened.

"Are you questioning our ability to fly our ship?" The Doctor asked.

"A bit, yeah."

"Well don't." He told her, not really reassuring her much at all. It was really nice to see him this happy and laid back, this version of him seemed to always be weighed down by the guilt of the Time War, but now, he seemed to be acting more like my other Doctors. Ooh, I quiet liked the sound of that,  _my_   _Doctors_.

"Yeah Rose." I said lightly. "You're talking to two Time Lords, one of which has her license to actually fly the TARDIS." I informed her. "If I wanted to, I could fly this ship right between two blackholes with one of my arms held behind my back." I said, giving myself a brilliant idea.

"Let's do it!" Me and the Doctor said together.

"Or not!" Rose said, pulling me away from the console unit. "Look, as cute as the two of you are acting right now, and no mater how physicked I am that the two of you finally stopped being so thick and got together; how about we try for somewhere simple, yeah?" She offered. Like London, or your house?"

"Fine, if you insist." I told her, punching in the correct coordinates into the TARDIS and pulling the lever, starting her up and sending her off. "My house, London, current day." I told her, leaning up against the console. "Happy?"

"Very." She said, going off into my flat, leaving me and the Doctor in the TARDIS.

"Hello." He said, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling my front close to his.

"Hello." I said, not being able to help the grin that was taking over my face when he looked down at me with that smile of his. I snuck a quick kiss on his lips, doing it just because I could, and loving that new fact.

"Do you have to go?" He asked me. "Can't we just stay hidden away in our time machine?"

"As tempting as that is, I don't think the older, or younger, you would like that idea too much." I told him, running my hands on his leather clad back.

"But a time machine, Ester!" He sighed, placing a small kiss on my lips, trying to prove his point. "We could stay in here until the end of time. and then do it again. Twice if we wanted to." He tempted.

"Are you going domestic on me?" I asked with a small laugh. "Is the great Oncoming Storm turning domestic?" I teased, giving him a tongue-in-tooth grin.

"If it meant staying in one place with you..."

"Oh come on, you know you don't want that." I told him. "I've seen you do domestic, or try at least, and you always get antsy after an hour or so." I told him, thinking back to when me and Eleven stayed with Craig.

"One day?" He asked. "Could we just do linear for a while one day?"

"I would like that a lot." I told him, smiling up at him. "One day when we're old and gray and filled with aches..." I teased.

"Says the 700 something year old"

"Says the 900 something year old." I laughed, poking him in the chest, earning myself a kiss from him. "You know, sometimes I really wonder how old we are. Like, I know I lost count way before the War started." I told him.

"I think if I actually knew, I would start acting more like my age." He said.

I wrinkled my nose up at that. "True, never mind then. I can just say 700 something, that number I don't mind too much."

"A very cute 700 something year old." He said, closing the gap between us yet again; our lips moving together like some type of dance that only we knew.

We broke apart when we heard the TARDIS door open.

"You two got enough out of your systems yet?" Rose asked, poking her head into the ship.

"I guess." I sighed. I gave the Doctor one final kiss before hugging him tight. "Love you." I told him, loving the way those words felt on my lips, loving how right they felt when I said them.

"Love you too." He said, placing a final kiss on the top of my hair like Eleven had done earlier in my time stream, later in his.

I separated myself from his arms, going over to hug Rose before walking out of the TARDIS.

"You two be safe." I told them, walking off the ship before they flew away.


	19. A Trio in Crime

When I walked out of the bathroom after my morning shower, I was perfectly happy to see the big blue box I called my home sitting in my living room. I took the towel out of my hair, letting the wet strands fall down, wetting the back of my tee shirt and threw the towel on a chair. I unlocked the box with the key I kept around my neck and walked in, seeing the Tenth Doctor sitting on the jump seat with a rather large book.

"Oh, there you are." He said, putting the book down and taking his glasses off.

"Yeah, sorry, I just got out of the shower. You weren't waiting too long for me, were you?" I asked, closing the door as I walked in.

"No, not at all. I think I've been here five, ten minutes tops?" He said, slightly unsure of himself.

"Ah, that's not too bad." I said, giving him a small smile. Something felt off around here, but I couldn't figure out what it was.

"Where were you before?" The Doctor asked, getting his journal out to sync ourselves.

"I was just with your ninth." I told him. "When we saw Pete Tyler at the wedding." I said, giving him a smile as I watched him think through the events of that day.

"Oh, oh, OH!" He said, a large grin busting out onto his face. "That just happened for you?" He asked and I gave him a small nod, the smiles still wide on both of our faces. "Brilliant! That means I can do this." He said, walking over to me. He took his hands and placed them on either side of my face, bringing it close to his own as he kissed me long and hard, almost making me forget everything but that kiss.

When we broke apart, I could only imagine the stupid, dopey grin I must have had plastered on my face. "Yeah, that, that was nice." I said, earning myself a laugh from him.

"You're really cute, you know?" He said, poking my nose. "Now, I've got this lead on Adipose Industries, they make diet pills and-"

"Hold on." I told him, pausing him as he went to the console unit. I had finally figured out what was wrong. "Where's Rose? Or Martha?" I asked, getting no response from him. "You're traveling by yourself? And I just left you with out any one else in here?" I questioned, wondering why on Earth I would do that.

"You left because you knew you came next." He said, pointing at me.

I thought over that bit of information. "Oh." I said. "I'm still not happy about that. I don't like the idea of you being by yourself. You had enough of that in your life time." I told him, grabbing his hand in mine. "Now, I don't want to know what happened to Rose and Martha to make them leave, or want to, but they are safe, right?" I asked him. "The last time I saw this version of you was Lazarus, and Rose was gone by then, but now that Martha is too..."

"They're safe." He told me, reassuring my worries that either one of them might be lost in the middle of no where. "Martha is with her family, and Rose is with Jackie." He said, a sad look in his eyes. I wrapped my arms around his thin frame, pulling him close to me. He put his head on my shoulder and we just stood there as we held each other close.

"I've got you." I said quietly to him. "I'm here."

***

A little later, the Doctor and I were in the basement of Adipose Industries, trying to get any information we could get about the system. The Doctor was dressed in his usual pin striped suit, and I opted for a more professional looking outfit than the tee shirt and sweatpants that I had walked on to the TARDIS with; I found a red pencil skirt and a black short sleeved blouse in the endless closet, and I had managed to find a pair of black flats amongst all of the heels, not wanting a recap of last time I had worn the death traps.

"John Smith, Ester Tyler, Health and Safety." The Doctor said, flashing the physic paper at a guard to get us into the building through the basement. We had managed to work our way up to the light and sound booth of the lecture hall at Adipose, the two of us able to watch and listen in on the presentation that was being given today.

"Adipose Industries, the twenty first century way to lose weight." A woman who introduced herself as Madam Foster told the small crowd. "No exercise, no diet, no pain. Just lifelong freedom from fat. The Holy Grail of the modern age. And here it is. You just take one capsule. One capsule, once a day for three weeks, and the fat, as they say." She paused, letting the film take over.

"The fat just walks away!"

"Excuse me, Miss Foster. If I could?" A reported asked. "I'm Penny Carter, science correspondent for The Observer. There are a thousand diet pills on the market, a thousand con men stealing people's money. How do we know the fat isn't going straight into your bank account?"

"Oh, Penny, if cynicism burnt up calories, we'd all be as thin as rakes. But if you want the science, I can oblige." Foster said as the film went into a scientific explanation of how the diet pills worked.

"Adipose Industries. The Adipose capsule is composed of a synthesized mobilising lipase, bound to a large protein molecule. The mobilizing lipase breaks up the triglycerides stored in the adipose cells, which then enter-"

"Health and Safety." The Doctor said when the tech guy in the booth with us gave us a weird look. "Film department."

"One hundred percent legal, one hundred percent effective." Foster told the crowd.

"But, can I just ask, how many people have taken the pills to date?" Penny asked.

"We've already got one million customers within the Greater London area alone, but from next week, we start rolling out nationwide. The future starts here. And Britain will be thin."

***

We continued our investigation, and found ourselves in the call center of Adipose. The Doctor and I split up, thinking that if we could get different information out of different people, then we would be better off.

"Good morning. I represent Adipose Industries." The people in the room said while I tried to find some one who looked like they would know a bit of information. There was a young man who looked intelligent enough, and I went into is cubical.

"We deliver within three working days." He told the person he was on the phone with, looking up at me when he saw me enter.

"Ester Tyler, Health and Safety. Don't mind me, just finding information for a survey." I told him, flashing him a fake ID card since the Doctor had the paper.

"The box comes with 21 days worth of pills, a full information pack, and our special free gift, an Adipose Industries pendant." The man said, pointing for me at the pendant that sat on his desk. I gave him a little nod and smile as I went to look at it. It was a gold plated pill, the same as the diet pills that the company sold.

"It's made of eighteen carat gold, and it's yours for free." He told the person on the other line. "No, I'm sorry, it dose not come in silver."

"I'm sorry, do you think I could have a list of your customers?" I asked him.

"Not a problem." He said. "I'll print it out for you right now. It'll be the one in the corner." He said, sending the command on his computer. I lifted my head above the cubical to see if I could get a good look at said printer and I saw the Doctor doing the same.

"Excuse me, everyone, if I could have your attention." The voice of Madam Foster said as she came into the room. All the workers stood in their cubicles. "On average, you're each selling forty Adipose packs per day. It's not enough. I want one hundred sales per person per day. And if not, you'll be replaced. Because if anyone's good in trimming the fat, it's me. Now. Back to it." She said, leaving the room before everyone sat down again.

"It should be printed." The man told me, giving me a small smile.

"Thank you." I said, giving him a small nod as I went to the printer.

There was a red headed lady waiting at the printer that was spewing out the papers. "Is one of these for you?" She asked, handing me a packet to look out. "It started printing a second."

"Yes actually, thank you." I said, giving her a smile before I left the cubical area.

***

"Roger Davey?" I asked as me and the Doctor went through our lists of names back in the TARDIS.

"Sure." He said. "Can you punch in the coordinates?" He asked as he started picking the papers up off the floor.

"Yeah." I said, starting flight and punching in the coordinates into our ship. He joined me in flying as soon as the papers were sitting on the jump seat. We landed a few houses down from the house of Roger Davey.

"Mister Roger Davey?" I asked when a man opened the door. He nodded, showing we had gotten the right house. "We're calling on behalf of Adipose Industries. Just need to ask you a few questions."

He invited us into his house, and he started telling us about the wonderful pills as we sat in his living room.

"I've been on the pills for two weeks now. I've lost fourteen kilos." He told us.

"That's the same amount every day?" The Doctor asked.

"One kilo exactly. You wake up, and it's disappeared overnight. Well, technically speaking, it's gone by ten past one in the morning."

"Ten past one?" I asked.

"What makes you say that?"

"That's when I get woken up. Might as well weigh myself at the same time." He shrugged. "It is driving me mad. Ten minutes past one, every night, bang on the dot without fail, the burglar alarm goes off. I've had experts in, I've had it replaced, I've even phoned Watchdog. But no, ten past one in the morning, off it goes."

"But with no burglars?"

"Nothing. I've given up looking." He told us.

"Tell me, Roger. Have you got a cat flap?" I asked, looking towards the door. Sure enough, there was one on the door.

"It was here when I bought the house. I've never bothered with it, really. I'm not a cat person." He told us.

"No, I've met cat people. You're nothing like them." The Doctor told him, earning himself a weird look.

"It's that what it is, though? Cats getting inside the house?"

"Well, thing about cat flaps is, they don't just let things in, they let things out as well." I told him.

"Like what?" He asked me.

"The fat just walks away." I repeated, looking the the Doctor.

"Well, thanks for your help. Tell you what, maybe you could lay off the pills for a week or so." I told him as we were leaving. When we walked out of the house, the Doctor took out the three pronged scanner we had put together earlier that day and turned it on.

We started following the signal, but it kept freezing every now and then, prompting us to hit it to get it back to working condition. After a few hits, it just stopped working all together.

"Seriously?" I sighed, looking down at the contraption.

***

"Oh, fascinating. Seems to be a bio-flip digital stitch, specifically for fat!" The Doctor exclaimed, looking at his gold pill pendant that he had picked up from Adipose.

"Really?" I asked. "So that's why they've been handing them out. One of those in a household with someone using the pills and they can activate them in all those houses at once." I said, putting my thoughts together as I spoke.

"Exactly." He said. "Now we just need to stop them."

"Stake out?" I asked him, an eye brow raised.

"Stake out." He agreed, giving me a smirk.

The next morning, we had snuck back into Adipose, using the physic paper. We found a janitor's closet that the two of us could fit in and we quickly slid in, shutting the door behind us.

I used my sonic to make the door locked from the inside, so no one opened it to find the two of us stuffed in here, blowing our cover.

"So, what do we do for ten hours?" I asked, leaning against a cart.

"We wait." He told me, joining me by the cart.

"Yay." I said sarcastically. "That's my favorite bit, right there." I said with a smirk on my face.

"I'm sure you won't mind it too much." He said, placing a kiss on my lips.

"Oh, well when you mention that..." I trailed, grinning up at him before going to kiss him.

Maybe ten hours isn't as long as it sounds...

***

Eventually we heard the final person leave the room, and it was safe to come out of our hiding space. During those ten hours we had found something that neither one of us had expected.

A hard drive located behind a secret wall in the closet. Through this hard drive, Madam Foster had been able to wire the entire building into something even the two of us couldn't hack into, a triple dead lock.

But what was she hiding? If it was just a normal diet pill, which it most certainly was not, she wouldn't need that type of security. Most countries don't have that level of security; so why did she.

We had to get information; and the only way we could think to get that information was going to her office itself. Or at least the window of it.

That was the reason why the Doctor and I were standing in the window cleaner's cradle, looking into her office through the gigantic windows.

"You can't tie me up." The reporter girl from yesterday, Penny, said as she was tied to a chair. We were both listening in with our stethoscopes, not wanting to be seen. "What sort of a country do you think this is?"

"Oh, it's a beautifully fat country. And believe me, I've travelled a long way to find obesity on this scale." Madame Foster told Penny.

"So, come on then, Miss Foster, those pills. What are they?"

"Well, you might just as well have a scoop, since you'll never see it printed. This is the spark of life."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Penny pressed.

"Officially, the capsule attracts all the fat cells and flushes them away." Madame Foster explained. "Well, it certainly attracts them. That part's true. But it binds the fat together and galvanises it to form a body."

"What do you mean, a body?" She asked, not understanding.

"I am surprised you never asked about my name. I chose it well. Foster. As in foster mother. And these are my children." The Doctor and I looked up through the glass to see Foster take a cute little creature out of a drawer of her desk.

"You're kidding me. What the hell is that?"

"Adipose." She explained. "It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat." I had to admit, for something made out of pure fat, it was pretty cute.

"But I don't understand." Penny said.

"From ordinary human people."

"Donna?" I heard the Doctor ask at barely a whisper. I looked at him, the followed his line of sight to see the red headed girl that stood at the printer yesterday.

"Doctor? Doctor!" She mouthed, an ecstatic expression on her face.

"But what? What? What?" He mouthed, I watched the two of them like a tennis match.

"Oh my god!"

"But how?" He asked, completely confused.

"It's me!"

"Yes, I can see that." He mouthed as I continued to watch with a grin on my face, amused at the sight in front of me.

"Oh, this is brilliant."

"What the hell are you doing there?"

"I was looking for you."

"What for?"

"I read it on the internet. Weird. Crept along. Heard them talking. Hid. You-" Donna suddenly stopped, noticing an unwanted pair of eyes on her.

"Are we interrupting you?" Madame Foster questioned, looking at the three of us.

"Run!" The Doctor yelled, as I aimed for the office door with my sonic, locking it from the inside and giving Donna some more time. The Doctor used his sonic on the cradle we were in, sending it back up to the roof.

"This is brilliant! Have you met Donna before?" The Doctor asked me.

"No, this is a first for me. Did she travel with us?" I asked him.

"No, I met her after Rose... You weren't with me; Donna almost married an alien, didn't stick around." He told me as we ran for the stairs, trying to get to Donna before the guards did.

"And then Martha?" I asked, running down the stairs with him.

"And then Martha." He nodded.

A blur of red hair flashed into my vision, and I looked next to me to see the Doctor and Donna hugging each other, both with wide smiles on their faces.

"Oh, my God. I don't believe it. You've even got the same suit! Don't you ever change?" Donna asked, looking him over.

"Yeah, thanks, Donna. Not right now." The Doctor said.

"And who's this?" Donna asked, looking at me. "I saw you by the printer, didn't I?" She asked.

"You did." I told her, a smile on my face. "I'm Ester." I introduced, giving her a small wave.

"Oh, you're Ester." She said, a smirk on her lips as she looked over to the Doctor who was sporting a red blush. "This one never shut up about you when I met him." She told me.

"Oh really?" I laughed.

He just seemed to go redder, if that was possible. "Is this really the time?" He asked, rushed. we heard the guards come up the stairs, only a few floors below us. "Just like old times!" He exclaimed as we started running back up to the roof.

"Because I thought, how do you find the Doctor? And then I just thought, look for trouble and then he'll turn up." Donna explained as we ran on the roof to the window cleaner's bucket. "So I looked everywhere. You name it. UFOs, sightings, crop circles, sea monsters. I looked, I found them all. Like that stuff about the bees disappearing, I thought, I bet he's connected. Because the thing is, Doctor, I believe it all now. You opened my eyes. All those amazing things out there, I believe them all. Well, apart from that replica of the Titanic flying over Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day. I mean, that's got to be a hoax." Donna said.

"What do you mean, the bees are disappearing?" Me and the Doctor asked her.

"I don't know. That's what it says on the internet. Well, on the same site, there was all these conspiracy theories about Adipose Industries and I thought, let's take a look."

"In you get!" The told Donna as I climbed into the bucket.

"What, in that thing?"

"Yes, in that thing." He told her.

"But if we go down in that, they'll just call us back up again."

"No, no, no, because he's locked the controls with a sonic cage." I told her. "We're the only one that can control it." I said as I showed her my sonic. "Not unless she's got a sonic device of her own, which is very unlikely."

Donna and the Doctor got into the bucket before I soniced the controls, sending us down. Foster and her guards got to the roof shortly after we started going down. What she did next took me completely by surprise. Foster took out a pen and soniced the controls to the bucket, causing up to drop quickly. The Doctor and I quickly tried to reverse it, me working my sonic on the controls on our end, trying to stop it before we reached the literal end of the rope. Luckily, with one last zap from my sonic, we were able to stop the bucket from moving any more.

"Hold on. Hold on. We can get in through the window." The Doctor told us, trying to cut through the glass with his sonic. "Can't get it open!" He groaned.

"Well, smash it then!" Donna exclaimed, picking up a wrench that was on the bottom of the bucket and hitting the glass repeatedly. It didn't seem to have too much effect, so I too picked up a tool and hit the glass; trying to use the majority of my strength to try to bust through.

"She's cutting the cable!" Donna cried, looking above us at the sparking steel cable. Before I had a chance to hold on to anything, the cable snapped, sending me and Donna flying over to the edge of the bucket. The Doctor managed to hold on to the other end, but me and Donna were dangling over the street below.

"Ester! Donna!" He yelled. My hearts were beating out of my chest, and I was doing all I could to not think about how far down the street was below me.

"Doctor!" Me and Donna yelled, fear evident in both of our voices.

"Hold on!" He yelled to us.

"We don't have much of a choice in the matter, now do we?" I asked him, groaning as my fingers tried to gain a better grip.

The Doctor pointed his screwdriver up at Madame Foster, who was trying to sap the other cable, but the Doctor was able to blast the sonic pen out of her hand, causing it to fall down to him. The Doctor caught the pen, putting it between his teeth before climbing through an open window.

"I'm going to fall!" Donna cried as we continued to dangle.

"Donna, just keep holding on, we can do this." I groaned.

"This is all his fault. I should've stayed at home." She groaned. "You hear that Doctor?" She called.

"I won't be a minute!" He responded. 

The minutes pasted like hours, and my fingers began to feel like they were going to fall off if my situation didn't change soon.

But then I felt something at my legs. I looked down to see the Doctor grabbing my legs, trying to get a good enough hold on me to pull me though the window.

"What are you doing?" I yelled at him.

"Saving you!"

"Get Donna in first, if I fall, I regenerate, if she falls, she dies." I argued. He gave me a pained expression before going to Donna, trying to get her into the window before she fell. He was successful, luckily for the three of us, and then he moved to my legs, trying to grab a hold of them. "You know, it would be nice if you could hurry up the saving bit, hun." I told him, feeling my hands start to slip at a much faster pace than what they had been doing before.

"I've got you Ester." He reassured me.

"I really hope you have a tight grip!" I yelled as my fingers slipped off the metal platform, and the only thing keeping me from falling to the hard pavement below was the Doctor's arms. Much to my luck, he was able to get me into the window and into Foster's office, where I fell into his arms.

"You okay?" He asked, frazzled as he looked me over, holding my head in both of his hands.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." I told him, my hearts still beating out of my chest, not slowing down too much when I looked into his big brown eyes.

"Good." He said, kissing me on the lips before we turned to Donna.

"I was right. It's always like this with you, innit?" She asked him.

"Oh, yes! And off we go." He said with a grin, ready to run out of the room.

"Oi!" The reporter girl, who was still tied up to the chair said before we left the room. 

"Sorry!" I said, using my sonic to break her out of the ropes.

"Now do yourself a favor. Get out." The Doctor told her before me, him and Donna ran down to the call centre where the closet with the controls was located.

***

"Well, then. At last." Foster said when we ran into her and her guards in the call centre.

"Hello." Me and and Donna said, giving her a little nod.

"Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor." 

"And I'm Ester."

"And I'm Donna."

"A trio in crime. And evidently off-worlders, judging by your sonic technology."

"Oh, yes, I've still got your sonic pen. Nice. I like it. Sleek. It's kind of sleek."  

"Oh, it's definitely sleek." Donna agreed.

"Yeah, and if you were to sign your real name, that would be?" I asked her, knowing that Foster couldn't be it.

"Matron Cofelia of the Five Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet. Intergalactic Class."  She told us.

"A wet nurse, using humans as surrogates." I said, putting the pieces together.

"I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost." She told us.

"What do you mean lost? How do you lose a planet?" The Doctor asked her, voicing my question.

"Oh, politics are none of my concern. I'm just here to take care of the children on behalf of the parents."

"What, like an outer space super nanny?" Donna asked her.

"Yes, if you like."

"So. So those little things, they're, they're made out of fat, yeah, but that woman, Stacy Campbell, there was nothing left of her." Donna pressed.

"Oh, in a crisis the Adipose can convert bone and hair and internal organs. Makes them a little bit sick, poor things." She told us.

"What about poor Stacy?" Donna asked.

"Seeding a level five planet is against galactic law." I told Foster.

"Are you threatening me?" She questioned, taking a step towards me.

"We're trying to help you, Matron. This is your one chance, because if you don't call this off, then we'll have to stop you." The Doctor told her.

"I hardly think you can stop bullets." She said as her guards took aim on us.

"No, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on." I told them, putting my hands up. "One more thing, before dying. Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?" I asked her, knowing the Doctor was taking out his and Foster's sonics out of his pocket.

"No."

"Nor me. Let's find out." I said, cuing the Doctor to press the two together. The two sonics  emitted an awful, ear bleeding noise, the glass windows shattered and everyone except me and the Doctor grabbed their heads in pain. Donna shoved the Doctor to get him to stop, which caused him to stop the terrible noise.

"Come on!" I yelled as we ran for the storage closet where the Doctor and I had hid earlier that day. I threw some of the buckets out of the closet to make enough room for the three of us.

"Well, that's one solution. Hide in a cupboard. I like it." Donna said once the three of us were in the closet with the door soniced shut. The Doctor and I were taking the paneling off the back wall of the closet to access the green computer-like machine.

"We've been hacking into this thing all day, because the matron's got a computer core running through the centre of the building. Triple deadlocked." I explained.

"But now I've got this, we can get into it." He said, holding up Foster's sonic pen.

"She's wired up the whole building. We need a bit of privacy." I said, taking two loose wires and holding them together as the Doctor soniced them, making a force field that would stop the oncoming guards.

"Just enough to stop them." The Doctor explained. "Why's she wired up the tower block? What's it all for?" He wondered.

"You look older." Donna told him as we looked at the machine.

"Thanks." He told her, absentmindedly.

"How long were you on your own?" She asked him.

"Not too long, Ester came back. And I had this friend. Martha she was called. Martha Jones. She was brilliant. And I destroyed half her life. But she's fine, she's good. She's gone." He said with a sad look in his eyes. I grabbed a hold of his hand, trying to make him feel better.

"What about Rose?" Donna asked.

"Still lost." He told her, causing me to suck in my breath. That was news to me. My little sister, lost.

"Lost?" I asked him, my voice thick with tears that threatened to fall. "I thought you said she was with Mum?"

"She is, and she's safe. We just... can't get to her." He told me as I felt my hearts drop.

"Wait, doesn't Ester know?" Donna asked.

"I don't follow the same time stream as the Doctor." I explained, trying to think of other things. "He's lived things that I haven't lived with, and I've lived things that he hasn't lived yet. For me, the last time I saw my sister, she had just started traveling with us. We saw her dad."

"You're sisters? But aren't you a Time Lady or something?" Donna asked.

"Long story short, my biological parents wiped my memories and DNA and I grew up for a second time as a human girl in 21st century and I was adopted by the Tyler's and then this one showed up in my cat flap one day, and everything came back to me." I explained, pointing at the Doctor. He pressed a kiss on the top of my head, making me smile a little.

"What about you Donna? I thought you were going to travel the world?" He asked her.

"Easier said then done." Donna sighed. "It's like I had that one day with you, and I was going to change. I was going to do so much. Then I woke up the next morning, same old life. It's like you were never there. And I tried. I did try. I went to Egypt. I was going to go barefoot and everything. And then it's all bus trips and guidebooks and don't drink the water, and two weeks later you're back home. It's nothing like being with you. I must have been mad turning down that offer." She said.

"What offer?" He asked her.

"To come with you."

"Come with me?"

"Oh yes, please." She said, causing me to smile. I thought that me and Donna would get on perfectly.

"Right.

"Inducer activated." The Computer told us.

"What's it doing now?" Donna asked as I started messing with the computer again.

"She's started the programme." I told her.

"So far they're just losing weight, but the Matron's gone up to emergency pathogenesis." The Doctor explained.

"And that's when they convert..." Donna trailed.

"Skeletons, organs, everything. A million people are going to die. Got to cancel the signal." I told her as the Doctor took the pill shaped out of his pocket.

"This contains a primary signal. If I can switch it off, the fat goes back to being just fat." He explained, connecting the pendant to the computer.

"Inducer increasing." The computer told us.

"No, no, no, no, no. She's doubled it." The Doctor said, worry in his voice as I processed what that meant. "We need. Haven't got time. It's too far. We can't override it. They're all gonna die!" He said as we furiously tried to reverse it.

"Is there anything I can do?" Donna asked.

"Sorry, Donna, this is way beyond you. Got to double the base pulse, we can't." He said.

"Doctor, tell me. What do you need?" She pressed.

"We need a second capsule to boost the override, but I've only got the one and Ester didn't grab one. We can't save them-" Donna cut him off by showing him her own gold, pill shaped pendant.

"Oh Donna, I could kiss you right now!" I exclaimed as I started taking her pendant apart and connecting it to the computer. The inducer shut down, and a loud noise came from above the building, catching all of our attention.

"What the hell was that?" Donna asked.

We looked at the monitor on the computer, which showed us a live video of a spaceship above Adipose with a transporter beam, bring all the little Adipose onto the ship, waving as they went up.

"Fine. When you say nursery you don't mean a crèche in Notting Hill." Donna said.

"Nursery ship." Me and the Doctor said together. 

"Incoming signal." The computer told us, lighting up before an alien voice filled the small room.

"Hadn't we better go and stop them?" Donna asked as me and the Doctor listened to the message.

"Hang on. Instructions from the Adiposian First Family." I told her quickly, trying not miss anything.

"She's wired up the tower block to convert it into a levitation post!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Ooo. Oh. We're not the ones in trouble now. She is!"

***

"What you going to do then? Blow them up?" Donna asked once we had gotten back on the roof, looking at the ship.

"They're just children. They can't help where they come from." I told her.

"They're innocent." The Doctor agreed.

"Oh, that makes a change from last time. That Martha must've done you good." Donna told the Doctor.

"She did, yeah. Yeah. She did. She fancied me." The Doctor said.

"She did?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I had eyes for someone else." He told me, pressing a kiss to my lips, which I happily accepted. 

"Mad Martha, that one. Blind Martha. Charity Martha." Donna said before breaking out in laughter. " I'm waving at fat!" She exclaimed as we waved at the little things.

"Actually, as a diet plan, it sort of works." I said, thinking about it before I saw Foster be lifted up by the transport beam. "There she is!" I exclaimed.

"Matron Cofelia, listen to me." The Doctor pleaded, trying to save her from the inevitable.

"Oh, I don't think so, Doctor. And if I never see you again, it'll be too soon." She told him.

"Oh, why does no one ever listen?" I asked. "We're trying to help. Just get across to the roof. Can you shift the levitation beam?" I asked her.

"What, so that you can arrest me?" She questioned.

"Just listen. we saw the Adiposian instructions. They know it's a crime, breeding on Earth. So what's the one thing they want to get rid of? Their accomplice." The Doctor explained.

"I'm far more than that. I'm nanny to all these children." She reasoned.

"Exactly! Mum and Dad have got the kids now. They don't need the nanny anymore." I told her. But then the transporter beam switched off, and Foster fell to the ground with a splat.

***

We were walking towards where the TARDIS was parked when the Doctor threw away the sonic pen in a waste bin on the corner of the alley way where we were parked.

"Oi, you three." Penny said, tied to a chair yet again, but walking. "You're just mad. Do you hear me? Mad! And I'm going to report you for madness." She yelled, frazzled as she hobbled away from us, chair and all.

"You see, some people just can't take it." Donna laughed.

"No." I agreed.

"And some people can. So, then. TARDIS! Come on." She exclaimed as we continued walking.

"That's my car! That is like destiny. And I've been ready for this." Donna told us, getting some suitcases out of the boot of her car and putting them in the Doctor's arms. "I packed ages ago, just in case. Because I thought, hot weather, cold weather, no weather. You go anywhere. I've gotta be prepared." She told us.

"You've got a-a hatbox." The Doctor said in disbelief. 

"Planet of the Hats, I'm ready." Donna asked, causing me to snort. "I don't need injections, do I? You know, like when you go to Cambodia. Is there any of that? Because my friend Veena went to Bahrain, and she. You're not saying much." She said, stoping her rambling to look at us.

"No, it's just. It's a funny old life, in the TARDIS." The Doctor told her, making sure she was really up to it.

"You don't want me." Donna said, her face falling.

"I'm not saying that." He said.

"But you asked me. Would you rather the two of you be on your own?" She asked.

"No. Actually, no." The Doctor said while I shook my head. "But the last time, with Martha, like I said, it, it got complicated. And that was all our fault. We just want a mate." He told her.

"You just want to mate?" She exclaimed in disgust.

"We just want a mate!" I told her.

"I don't know what you're into, but you're not mating with me, sunshine! Neither of you!"

 _"A mate_." Me and the Doctor said together, trying to get her off of this track. "We want  _a mate_."

"Well, just as well, because I'm not having any of that nonsense. I mean, you're just a long streak of nothing. You know, alien nothing. And I'm not into girls. Or alien girls for that matter."

"Hey, I happen to find that long streak of nothing attractive." I said, going on my toes to press a kiss on his cheek.

"There we are, then. Okay." The Doctor asked, sort of flustered.

"I can come?" She asked us.

"Yeah. Course you can, yeah. I'd love it." I told her as the Doctor nodded next to me.

"Oh, that's just-" She said, coming to hug us before she remembered something. "Car keys." She said, feeling her pocket.

"What?" We asked.

"I've still got my mum's car keys. I won't be a minute." She said, running off, leaving us to put her bags in the TARDIS.

***

"Off we go, then." Donna said once she had returned to the TARDIS.

"Here it is. The TARDIS. It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside." I said, showing off our ship.

"Oh, I know that bit. Although frankly, you could turn the heating up." Donna told me.

"So, whole wide universe, where do you want to go?"

"Oh, I know exactly the place." Donna said.

"Which is?" I asked.

"Two and a half miles that way." She told us.

***

We flew past the hill that Donna told us about, and the three of us stood at the open TARDIS door, waving at her grandfather who was looking up at us with his telescope, ecstatic to see his granddaughter in a spaceship with two aliens, ready to explore the world he dreamed of.


	20. Period Costumes

"So, where are we going?" Donna asked, excited to explore all the universe had to offer.

"We're going to drop Ester off, then pick her back up again." The Doctor said as the two of us messed with the controls, flying our ship to my house.

"What?" Donna asked. "You're just going to leave her to pick her up again?"

"No, he's going to drop me off and pick up an older or younger version of me." I told her. "Probably an older one, seeing as this is the first time I met you."

"That doesn't make any sense." She said, trying to understand.

"Remember when I told you that I live a different time stream than the Doctor? This is what I meant. He's going to drop me off at my house, where I will be picked up by a different version of him, and he's going to pick up a different version of me." I told her.

"We tried the linear time line centuries ago." The Doctor told her, giving me a grin. I couldn't help but smile when I thought about our adventures before the Time War; back when everything was easier. "We wanted something a bit more exciting." He said.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." I said, wrapping my arms around his waist from behind as he punched in the coordinates.

"I don't think I'd ever be able to understand you two." Donna said as we continued to fly, the TARDIS jerking around as we came close to landing. It finally calmed down when we came to a landing in my living room.

"Here we are." The Doctor said, leaning against the console unit. I went to Donna to give her a hug before I left.

"Bye Donna, see you soon." I told her, hugging her tight before I left. "You better take her somewhere amazing." I told the Doctor after I had let go of Donna.

"I will, come on, I'll walk you out." He told, me taking my hand in his as we walked out of the TARDIS and into my living room.

"See you soon." I told him quietly, placing a kiss on his lips as we held each other close.

"I love you." He told me, kissing me again.

"I love you too." I replied, smiling up at him as I looked into his eyes.

"See you soon." He told me, letting me go and going back into the TARDIS.

"You better." I told him, giving him a small laugh before the door shut and the TARDIS disappeared.

And then I heard a noise come from my kitchen. It sounded like a person or an animal had gotten into there and knocked some packages over. It was quickly followed by hushed voices and shushing. I took my sonic out of my pocket and slowly proceeded to my kitchen, ready to fight if it came down to it. As I walked closer to the room, I saw the TARDIS, and Rose and Ten sitting at my table.

"Is he gone?" The Doctor whispered, looking over my shoulder.

"Who?" I asked, not understanding what was going on.

"Me. Is he gone?" He pressed.

"You realize you're standing right in front of me, yes?"

"The  _other_  me, Ester."

"Oh, yeah. He's gone." I told him, watching as he instantly relaxed. "How long have you two been here?" I asked, seeing that they had both made themselves welcome to my cereal.

"Two hours?" Rose offered with a shrug.

I let out a sigh. "Okay, so you've been sitting in my house, eating my food for two hours, waiting for me to show up."

"Pretty much."

"Yeah."

"In our defense, you did say we could eat." Rose told me, putting another spoonful of my sugary cereal in her mouth. "I don't think I've had this in years!"

"Alright then. Do we have a plan on where we're going or...?" I asked, looking at the Doctor.

"Not a clue, I was feeling a bit 1950's, however." He told me.

"Ooh, yeah! 1950's New York. Proper New York, not the New, New, New, well, you get the point." I agreed. "We could go see Broadway! They didn't call it the Golden Age of Broadway for no reason. We could see The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, Peter Pan, Westside Story, The Sound of Music, The King and I, My Fair Lady! Oh, anything would be great!" I gushed, leaning back in my chair.

"Sounds great!" Rose agreed. "What do you say, Doctor?"

"1950's New York? No problem. You two get changed, I'll fly." He offered, standing up from his spot at the table.

I couldn't help but sport the large grin I had on my face. "Oh, thank you." I exclaimed, kissing him before getting Rose into the TARDIS and into the massive closet.

"You know, I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to the size of this closet." Rose said as we walked to the 1950's section of the never ending closet.

"Yeah, all these clothes and yet you still manage to sneak my tee shirts." I said, pointing at her top, which was most definitely one of my own.

"Hey, it's soft, I like it." She defended.

"Still mine though." I laughed. "So, 1950's, big hair, big skirts, take your pic." I said, motioning to the racks of clothing in front of us. We each picked white tops, and Rose picked a pink poodle skirt with light pink heels, while I opted for a light blue skirt with white heels. I helped Rose with her hair, remembering quite well how to do the classic bee hive look and then did the same to my own hair as Rose messed with her make up.

Once we were done, we walked out of the closet and back up to the console room, ready to take what the world threw at us.


	21. The Idiot's Lantern

"Maybe we could see Elvis." Rose said as we walked to the console room and to the door.

"Yeah, we might be able to do that." I told her with a nod as we stepped out of the TARDIS and onto the street where we were parked. The Doctor was leaning against the TARDIS, his hair gelled into a standard for the time quiff, and wearing a pair of sunglasses.

  
"I thought we'd be going for the Vegas era, you know the white flares and the, grr, chest hair." Rose said, looking around.

"You are kidding, aren't you? You want to see Elvis, you go for the late fifties." I told her.

"The time before burgers. When they called him the Pelvis and he still had a waist. What's more, you see him in style." The Doctor said from his spot against the TARDIS. He ran back inside, then came out on a motorbike with a side car and two helmets. He was wearing a white crash helmet, fitting the standard to a tee. "You going my way, doll?" He asked, looking at me.

"Is there any other way to go, daddy-o?" I asked him, putting on my own sunglasses and helmet before sitting behind him on the bike.

"Straight from the fridge, man." Rose laughed, getting into the sidecar.

"Hey, you speak the lingo." He smiled, looking at Rose.

"Oh well, me, Ester, Mum, Cliff Richard movies every Bank Holiday Monday." She explained.

"Ah, Cliff. I knew your mother'd be a Cliff fan." He said, revving the bike engine before we rode down the street, me gripping his wait tightly.

"Where we off to?" Rose asked. As we sped down the street.

"Ed Sullivan TV Studios." The Doctor said. "Elvis did Hound Dog on one of the shows. There were loads of complaints. Bit of luck, we'll just catch it and be back in time to see a Broadway show." He said.

"And that'll be TV studios in, what, New York?" Rose asked.

"That's the one." I said, right before a red double decker bus drove past us. The Doctor also noticed this and we pulled over, right next to a red phone box. We looked at the houses near us too see they were all connected through strings upon strings of Union Flag bunting.

"Oh." I said quietly.

"Ha! Digging that New York vibe." Rose laughed, giving me and the Doctor a look.

"Well, this could still be New York." The Doctor reasoned. "I mean, this looks very New York to me. Sort of Londony New York, mind."

"What are all the flags for?" Rose asked.

"Well, we could always find out." I said, looking between the two of them.

***

"There you go, sir, all wired up for the great occasion." A TV salesman said to the owner of the new TV. The salesman was standing in front of a van with 'Magpie's Televisions' advertised on the side of it.

"The great occasion? What do you mean?" The Doctor asked the salesman as the three of us walked towards him.

"Where've you been living, out in the Colonies? Coronation, of course." The man said, looking gobsmacked that we didn't know.

"What Coronation's that then?" The Doctor asked.

"What do you mean? The Coronation."

"It's the Queen's. Queen Elizabeth." Rose realized, putting the information together.

"Oh! Is this 1953?" Me and the Doctor asked.

"Last time I looked. Time for a lovely bit of pomp and circumstance, what we do best." The man said.

"Look at all the TV aerials. Looks like everyone's got one." Rose said, looking at the roofs of the houses surrounding us. "That's weird. My nan said tellies were so rare they all had to pile into one house."

"Not around here, love. Magpie's Marvelous Tellies, only five quid a pop." He bargained.

"Oh, but this is a brilliant year. Classic!" I gushed. "Technicolor, Everest climbed, everything off the ration. The nation throwing off the shadows of war and looking forward to a happier, brighter future." I said with a smile.

"Someone help me, please! Ted!" Someone, as if on cue, yelled. We turned around to see two quite large men in black suits shuffle a person with their head covered into the back of a car. "Leave him alone! He's my husband! Please." The woman cried, trying to get her husband back from the men.

"What's going on?" I asked, my tone and face serious.

"Oi, what are you doing?" A young boy asked, coming out of his house and into he street with us.

"Police business. Now, get out of the way, sir." The officer told him, getting into the car and shutting the door.

"Who did they take? Do you know him?" Rose asked the boy.

"Must be Mister Gallagher." He said grimly as we watched the car drive away. "It's happening all over the place. They're turning into monsters." He said, sparking mine and the Doctor's interest.

"Tommy! Not one word! Get inside now!" Tommy's dad called from the door of their house.

"Sorry. I'd better do as he says." He said quickly before running off to his home, leaving us in the street with our bike.

"All aboard!" The Doctor said, getting on the bike and pulling his helmet on. I slid on behind him and Rose got in the side car before we sped off in chase of the car.

We sped through streets, me clutching at the Doctor's waist the entire way. We followed it to a dead end, but the car was no where insight; only a few vegetable carts.

"Lost them. How'd they get away from us?" The Doctor asked, looking at the closed gates that sat behind the carts.

"Surprised they didn't turn back and arrest you for reckless driving. Have you actually passed your test?" Rose asked him, noticing that I was still clutching the Doctor's waist.

"I, for one, wouldn't mind if you slowed down a tad, dear." I told him, resting my head on his shoulder as my hearts started to slow down to a normal speed.

"Men in black? Vanishing police cars? This is Churchill's England, not Stalin's Russia." The Doctor said, still trying to figure out what was going on.

"Monsters, that boy said. Maybe we should go and ask the neighbors." Rose suggested, earning herself a grin form both me and the Doctor. 

"That's what I like about you. The domestic approach." The Doctor nodded, getting ready to start the bike up again.

"Thank you. Hold on, was that an insult?" Rose asked before we zoomed off, causing me to grip the Doctor impossibly tighter than what I had been doing. "Whoa!"

***

I pressed the doorbell to Tommy's house standing in line with Rose and the Doctor as we waited for the door to be answered.

"Hi!" The three of us said with large grins on our faces when the door was opened to reveal Tommy's father.

"Who are you, then?" He asked us, not looking too amused. 

"Let's see, then. Judging by the look of you, family man, nice house, decent wage, fought in the war, therefore we represent Queen and country." The Doctor said, holding us the physic paper after we looking him over quickly. "Just doing a little check of Her forthcoming Majesty's subjects before the great day. Don't mind if I come in? Nah, I didn't think you did. Thank you." The Doctor continued, inviting ourselves into his house and stepping into the living room where Tommy and a woman sat near the Television. "Not bad. Very nice. Very well kept. I'd like to congratulate you, Mrs?" He asked, looking who seemed to be Tommy's mother.

"Connolly." She answered, giving us a smile which Rose and I quickly returned.

"Now then, Rita." Mr. Connolly told his wife. "I can handle this. This gentleman's a proper representative. Don't mind the wife, she rattles on a bit." He said, turning to us.

"Well, maybe she should rattle on a bit more." I told him, raising my eyebrow at him. "You see, it's not just my partner here that's a representative, it's the three of us." I said, motion to me and Rose. "And I'm not convinced you're doing your patriotic duty. Nice flags."I said, looking at the Union Flag bunting that sat in a pile on a chair. "Why are they not flying?" I question.

"There we are Rita, I told you, Get them up. Queen and country." He told his wife.

"I'm sorry." She said, looking genuinely scared of her husband.

"Get it done. Do it now." He ordered, making my blood run hot.

"Hold on a minute." The Doctor said, holding a hand out to stop the flustered woman.

"Like the gentleman says." Mr. Connolly nodded.

"Hold on a minute." The Doctor said, turning to him. "You've got hands, Mister Connolly. Two big hands. So why is that your wife's job?" He asked him.

"Well, it's housework, innit?"

"And that's a woman's job?" The Doctor asked, just as irritated with the man as I was, but able to keep his calm composure better than I would have.

"Of course it is." He said.

"Mister Connolly, what gender is the Queen?" I asked him, having enough of his views.

"She's a female." He responded.

"And are you suggesting the Queen does the housework?" I pressed, keeping my voice smooth and calm.

"No. Not at all." He said, looking nervous.

I took the flags out his wife's hands, handing them to him. "Then get busy." I said with a smile.

"Right. Yes, sir, ma'am. You'll be proud of us, sir. We'll have Union Jacks left, right and centre." Mr. Connolly said, just as flustered as his wife was previously as he started hanging the flags.

"Excuse me, Mister Connolly. Hang on a minute. Union Jacks?" Rose spoke up.

"Yes, that's right, isn't it?" He asked her.

"That's the Union Flag. It's the Union Jack only when it's flown at sea." She corrected, I made a mental note to high five my sister at a later time.

"Oh. Oh, I'm sorry, I do apologize." He said, even more flustered than before.

"Well, don't get it wrong again, there's a good man. Now get to it!" She told him. A bubble of pride formed in my chest for my sister.

"Right then! Nice and comfy, at Her Majesty's leisure. Union Flag?" The Doctor asked Rose as we settled on a sofa.

"Mum went out with a sailor." Me and Rose said together.

"Oh ho ho ho. I bet she did. Anyway, I'm the Doctor and this is Ester and her sister Rose, and you are?" He asked Tommy, he must've not picked his name up earlier.

"Tommy." He told us.

"Well, sit yourself down, Tommy. Have a look at this." I told him, motioning to some of the other seats. "I love telly, don't you?" I asked him with a smile.

"Yeah, I think it's brilliant." He told us.

"Good man!" The Doctor said with a grin. "Keep working, Mister C! Now, why don't you tell me what's wrong?" He asked Tommy and his mother, lowering his voice.

"Did you say you were a doctor?" She asked, a small spark of hope in her eyes.

"Yes, I am." The Doctor nodded.

"Can you help her?" She cried, her eyes wide. "Oh please, can you help her, Doctor?"

This had drawn her husband's attention. "Now then, Rita. I don't think the gentleman needs to know-" Mr. Connolly started before getting cut off by the Doctor.

"No, the gentleman does." He told him.

"Tell us what's wrong, and we can help." Rose told the woman, who was on the verge of tears.

"Please dear, just start at the beginning." I told her softly. Rita stared at me and Rose for a moment before completely bursting into tears. Me and Rose got up from our seats to comfort the poor woman.

"I'm sorry. It's all right. Come here. It's okay." I told her, pulling her into my arms as Rose stroked her hair, the two of us trying to calm her.

"Hold on a minute." Mr. Connolly exclaimed, meeting my gaze before catching the Doctor's.  "Queen and country's one thing, but this is my house! What the?" He looked at the bunting in his hand before throwing it to the ground where it landed in a heap. "What the hell am I doing? Now you listen here, Doctor. You may have fancy qualifications, but what goes on under my roof is my business." He yelled.

"A lot of people are being bundled into-" The Doctor tried reasoning before being cut off.

"I am talking!" He yelled, silencing the entire room for a moment.

"And we're not listening!" I yelled back at him, standing next to the Doctor.

"Now you, Mister Connolly, you are staring into a deep, dark pit of trouble if you don't let us help." The Doctor told him, his voice forceful. "So I'm ordering you, sir! Tell us what's going on!" He yelled. Before the man could answer, three thumps from above our heads made the room go deadly silent.

"She won't stop. She never stops." Mr. Connolly told us, looking genuinely concerned.

"We started hearing stories, all round the place." Tommy said from his place by his mum, causing me and the Doctor to turn around to look at the boy. "People who've changed. Families keeping it secret because they were scared. Then the police started finding out. We don't know how, no one does. They just turn up, come to the door and take them, any time of the day or night."

"Show me." Me and the Doctor said together.

***

"Gran? It's Tommy. It's all right, Gran. I've brought help." Tommy said, opening the door to the dark room where his grandmother stayed.

Tommy found the light switch by the door and turned the light on, showing us the old woman standing right at the door. She had no face. No eyes, no nose, no mouth. Just skin.

"Her face is completely gone." I said quietly, looking at the old woman as a sickening feeling settled in my hearts.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the woman, a worried look in his eyes. "Scarcely an electrical impulse left. Almost complete neural shutdown. She's ticking over. It's like her brain has been wiped clean."

"What're we going to do, Doctor? We can't even feed her." Tommy asked. A pounding sound came from under us, followed by the sound of splintering wood.

"We've got company." Rose said, looking at the stair case.

"It's them. They've come for her!" Rita said, terrified.

"Quickly. What was she doing before this happened? Where was she? Tell me. Quickly, think!" The Doctor pressed as we heard boots on the stairs.

"I can't think! She doesn't leave the house! She was just-" Tommy tried before the large men in black met us at the top of the stairs.

"Hold on a minute. There are three important, brilliant, and complicated reason why you should listen to me." The Doctor said quickly, standing between us and them. "One-" He didn't get a chance to give his reason. One of the men in black punched the Doctor in the face, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Doctor!" Me and Rose yelled, rushing to his side as the men went for the old woman. I kneeled next to him, putting a hand on his face as my other hand went to grab on of his hands.

"Come on, wake up. Wake up." I pleaded, kissing his forehead as Rose shook his shoulders. Everything around us seemed to be happening in a different reality as I focused all of my attention to the Doctor.

"Leave her alone! No!" Rita yelled, her voice seeming miles away as I focused on the Doctor. I lifted his head off the ground to make sure he wasn't bleeding, which he thankfully wasn't.

"Doctor!" Rose exclaimed, trying to wake him up as I continued to look him over.

"Don't hurt her!" Rita said again.

"Come on love." I said, rubbing my thumb over the back of his hand that I was holding. "Wake up."

Without any forewarning, the Doctor suddenly sat straight up, almost hitting my head with his. "Ah, hell of a right hook. Have to watch out for that." He said, jumping to his feet, gripping my hand and ran off, tugging me along with him as we ran down the stairs and outside.

"Don't fight it. Back inside." Mr. Connolly said.

"Rose, come on!" I called as me and the Doctor got on the bike that was still parked in front of the house. We weren't going to lose them this time.

"Rose, we're going to lose them again!" The Doctor called. Still no Rose. We were getting desperate now. After another minute or two of waiting and still no Rose, we rode off, needing to follow the truck with the old woman in it.

We raced down the streets faster than we had before. I gripped the Doctor's waist tightly as we did so, not wanting to fall off the bike. We followed the truck down all the same streets as before, and it turned down the dead end alley. We watched as the market stall owners quickly moved their carts out of the way and opened the gates for the truck, only to close them and put it all back once it passed.

"Oh, very good. Very good."

We parked the bike and started looking around the area, both of us with our sonics in hands, scanning for a clue or two. We found a door that we were quickly able to open and go through.

Once we were in the yard on the other side of the gate, we saw two of the men padlock a wire door that closed off a building before walking off. I was quickly able to sonic the lock, gaining us access to the building. We went into the dark building to see it filled with large holding cell like cages. The Doctor opened it to find it filled with faceless people of all ages. I turned my sonic on to try to light the pitch black room up a bit and they all turned to the purple light, as if they could sense it. The lights in the building switched on and the Doctor and I looked at each other, eyes wide.

"Stay where you are." Ordered a voice that came from neither one of us.

***

Me and the Doctor were sat in Bishop's office, sitting in two wooden chairs in the dimly lit room.

"Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know." Bishop said.

"Well, for starters, I know you can't wrap your hand around your elbow and make your fingers meet." The Doctor said, causing me to want to try it myself. He was right.

"Don't get clever with me." The bishop told him. "You were there today at Florizel Street, and now breaking into this establishment. Now you're connected with this. Make no mistake."

"Well, the thing is, Detective Inspector Bishop."

"How do you know my name?" He questioned us.

"It's written inside your collar. Bless your mum." I told him, pointing to his shirt. "But I can't help thinking, Detective Inspector, you're not exactly doing much detective inspecting, are you?" I questioned him.

"I'm doing everything in my power." The Detective Inspector said.

"All you're doing is grabbing those faceless people and hiding them as fast as you can." I said quickly.

"Don't tell us orders from above, hmm? Coronation Day. The eyes of the world are on London Town so any sort of problem just gets swept out of sight." The Doctor finished.

"The nation has an imagine to maintain." He argued.

"But doesn't it drive you mad, doing nothing? Don't you want to get out there and investigate?" The Doctor countered.

"Of course I do." Bishop said, looking taken back. "But, with all the crowds expected, we haven't got the man power. Even if we did, this is beyond anything we've ever seen. I just don't know anymore. Twenty years on the force, I don't even know where to start. We haven't the faintest clue what's going on." He explained to us.

"Well, that could change." I told him, a small smile on my lips.

"How?" He questioned, looking confused.

"Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know." I said, repeating what he had initially told me and the Doctor. A man in black stepped in with another faceless person with a sheet over their head.  

"We started finding them about a month ago. Persons left sans visage. Heads just blank." Bishop told us.

"Is there any sort of pattern?" The Doctor questioned.

"Yes, spreading out from North London. All over the city. Men, women, kids, grannies. The only real lead is there's been quite a large number in-"

"Florizel Street." Me and the Doctor said together, Bishop nodded at us before looking at the man who brought in the faceless people.

"Found another one, sir." The man said, the faceless person, a woman in a pink skirt, standing motionlessly next to him.

"Oh, er, good man, Crabtree. Here we are, Doctor. Take a good look. See what you can deduce." Bishop told us. Crabtree took the sheet off of the woman and both of my hearts instantly stopped.

Time seemed to stop in it's place as I looked at her.

Rose.

Was this the end for her? I couldn't help but think back to what the Doctor said when I met Donna.

He said she was still lost. Was this what he meant? Is this what he thought lost was? And he told me she was with Mum, was that a lie?  _Lost_?

Somehow, I managed to get out of the chair and on to my feet, standing face to faceless-face with my sister. My eyes felt wet and my vision was blurred.

My sister.

My Rose.

"Rose." I said, my voice coming out thick and broken. The Doctor was by my side, taking a hold of my hand.

"You know her?" Bishop said.

"Know her? She..." I couldn't get any more words out. This was all my fault. Why did we leave her? Why didn't we wait for her? Was following that truck really more important than my own sister?

"They found her in the street, apparently, over by the Square, abandoned."

"That's unusual. That's the first one out in the open. Heaven help us if something happens in public tomorrow for the big day. We'll have Torchwood on our backs then, make no mistake." The men said, me and the Doctor silent as we stared at Rose.

"They did what?" The Doctor asked, his voice sounding so broken that my hearts ached even more than they already were.

"I'm sorry?"

"They left her where?" The Doctor repeated.

"Just in the street."

"In the street. They left her in the street. My sister. My baby sister." I cried, my chest so tight that it felt like I wouldn't be able to breathe if I wanted to.

"They took her face and just chucked her out and left her in the street. And as a result, that makes things simple. Very, very simple. Do you know why?" The Doctor said, getting mad as he turned towards the men.

"No."

"Because now, Detective Inspector Bishop, there is no power on this Earth that can stop me." The Doctor told them. He pulled me away from my sister, going towards the door, my feet moving like they had a mind of their own. "Come on!" The Doctor called to the other men.

"The big day dawns." Bishop said, looking at the sunrise when we got out of the building.

***

The Doctor rang the door bell to Tommy's house while I stood numbly next to him.

"Tommy, talk to me. I need to know exactly what happened inside your house." The Doctor said when the young boy answered the door.

"What the blazes do you think you're doing?" Tommy's father said coming to the door before Tommy could get a word out.

"I want to help, dad." Tommy told his father.

"Mister Connolly-"

"Shut your face, you, whoever you are. We can handle this ourselves." He told us, cutting the Doctor off before turning to his son. "Listen, you little twerp. You're hardly out of the blooming' cradle, so I don't expect you to understand. But I've got a position to maintain. People round here respect me. It matters what people think."

"Is that why you did it, dad?" Tommy asked.

"What do you mean? Did what?"

"You ratted on Gran." He accused. "How else would the police know where to look, unless some coward told them-"

"How dare you! Do you think I fought a war just so a mouthy little scum like you could call me a coward?"

"You don't get it, do you? You fought against fascism, remember? People telling you how to live, who you could be friends with, who you could fall in love with, who could live and who had to die. Don't you get it? You were fighting so that little twerps like me could do what we want, say what we want. Now you've become just like them. You've been informing on everyone, haven't you? Even Gran. All to protect your precious reputation." Tommy said, disgusted.

"Eddie is that true?" Rita said, standing in the hall way, looking at her son and husband, looking pained.

"I did it for us, Rita. She was filthy. A filthy, disgusting thing!" He argued.

"She's my mother. All the others you informed on, all the people in our street, our friends!" She yelled, looking at the man like she didn't know who he was.

"I had to. I, I did the right thing."

"The right thing for us or for you, Eddie? You go, Tommy. Go with the Doctor and Ester and do some good. Get away from this house, it's poison. We had a ruddy monster under this roof, all right, but it weren't my mother!" She said, slamming the door, leaving Tommy, his father, the Doctor and I outside the house.

"Rita!" Mr. Connolly said, pounding his fists on the door.

"Tommy?" The Doctor asked, looking at the boy. "Tommy, tell me about that night. The night she changed."

"She was just watching the telly." Tommy said.

"Rose said it. She guessed it straight away. Of course she did." He said, looking at me with a sad look, I stared blankly at him, trying to deal with the internal war going inside of me; my hearts just wanting to give up and crawl into a ball in my bed in the TARDIS, never to return; my brain wanting to keep going and stay at the Doctor's side. "All these aerials in one little street. How come?"

"Bloke up the road, Mister Magpie, he's selling them cheap." Tommy told us.

"Is he, now?" Bishop asked.

"Come on!" The Doctor said, tugging me along yet again.

I got on the back of the bike, my arms hanging loosely around the Doctor's waist as we rode off towards Magpie's television shop.

We got there a few minutes before the rest of the men, and we sat waiting for them to come.

"Hey, she's going to be okay. I'm going to get her back." He told me, pressing a kiss to the top of my head as he pulled me into his arms, holding me as tight as I was earlier yesterday before everything went wrong.

"But what if she isn't?" I asked him, my voice hoarse. "What if she's... gone?" Just voicing my fears made my eyes go wet.

"Shh, she'll be okay. You'll see." He said quietly, letting me cry into his shoulder as he rubbed my back and pulled me impossibly closer to him, as if he was trying to keep me from forgetting that he was there.

By the time Bishop and Tommy had gotten back, I had returned to my pervious numb-like state. The Doctor kept my hand in his, keeping me close to his side.

He soniced the locked door, breaking into the shop.

"Here, you can't do that-" Bishop tried, but we went into the shop anyway.

"Shop! If you're here, come out and talk to me! Magpie!" the Doctor called.

"Maybe he's out." Tommy thought.

"Looks like it..." The Doctor said, searching through drawers and closets. "Oh, hello. This isn't right. This is very much not right." He said, finding a portable television. He licked it, causing me to make a face at him. "Tastes like iron. Bakelite. Put together with human hands, yes, but the design itself. Oh, beautiful work. That is so simple." He said in wonder.

"That's incredible. It's like a television, but portable. A portable television." Bishop said, looking at the television. The Doctor took his sonic, raising it in the air before turning it on.

"It's not the only power source in this room." He said as each television screen in the room lit up, each showing the face of a different person; all of them mouthing the words 'Help me'.

"Gran?" Tommy said, seeing his grandmother's face in one of the screens. A few televisions down was Rose's face. Unlike the other faces, Rose was mouthing 'Ester' and 'Doctor'.

"Rose." I whispered, showing the Doctor my sister on the screen.

"We're on our way." The Doctor said to the screen, squeezing my hand.

"What do you think you're doing?" A man asked us, coming from the back of the store; Magpie.

"I want my friend restored, and I think that's beyond a little backstreet electrician, so tell me, who's really in charge here?" The Doctor said, turning to the man.

"Yoo hoo! I think that must be me. Ooh, this one's smart as paint." A woman on the portable television said, the only face with a voice.

"Is she talking to us?" Bishop asked, dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry, madam, gentlemen, I'm afraid you've brought this on yourselves. May I introduce you to my new friend." Magpie said, motioning to the woman in the television.

"Jolly nice to meet you." The woman said.

"Oh my God, it's her, that woman off the telly." Bishop gasped, recognizing the woman.

"No, it's just using her image." The Doctor said.

"What? What are you?" Tommy asked the woman.

"I'm the Wire, and I will gobble you up, pretty boy. Every last morsel. And when I have feasted, I shall regain the corporeal body, which my fellow kind denied me." The Wire said, going from a black and white image to full color.

"Good Lord. Color television!" Bishop gasped.

"So your own people tried to stop you?" The Doctor asked the Wire, not letting go of my hand.

"They executed me. But I escaped in this form and fled across the stars." She told him.

"And now you're trapped in the television." 

"Not for much longer."

"Doctor, is this what got my Gran?" Tommy asked.

"Yes, Tommy. It feeds off the electrical activity of the brain, but it gorges itself like a great overfed pig, taking people's faces, their essences. It stuffs itself." He explained.

"And you let her do it, Magpie." Bishop said, turning to the man.

"I had to. She allowed me my face. She's promised to release me at the time of manifestation." Magpie told us.

"What does that mean?" Tommy asked.

"The appointed time. My crowning glory." The Wire smirked.

"Doctor, the coronation!" Bishop exclaimed.

"For the first time in history, millions gathered around a television set. But you're not strong enough yet, are you? You can't do it all from here. That's why you need this. You need something more powerful! This will turn a big transmitter into a big receiver." 

"What a clever thing you are! But why fret about it? Why not just relax? Kick off your shoes and enjoy the Coronation. Believe me, you'll be glued to the screen." The Wire said, spewing red energy out at us, trapping us all within it's beam..

"Doctor!" I yelled as the corners of my mind began to go dark. The darkness started to grow and spread to my entire mind, 

"Hungry! Hungry! The Wire is hungry! Ah, this one is tasty. Oh, I'll have lashings of her! Delicious!" The Wire's voice said, sounding millions of miles away as my mind continued to turn black. I heard the Doctor scream my name out as the last small bit of my mind turned black, and I was no more.

***

Nothingness. Nothing. Empty. No light. No darkness. No sound. No smell. No touch. No feelings. No time. Nothing.

I was alone. I was lost. I didn't know where I was.

I needed to be found. Someone had to find me. I needed someone. But who? Did I need to find someone? Was someone looking for me? Was I looking for someone?

I was a blank slate. I didn't know who I was. I didn't know what I was. I didn't know what I was supposed to do? Was I doing something?

There was nothing to do. Nothing can be done when the only thing around you was nothingness. 

Suddenly the nothingness changed. There was a terrible noise; a scream? There was a bright white light. What was happening?

***

I woke on the floor of the television shop. I looked up to see all the televisions were blank. I couldn't bring myself to stand up, and I suddenly felt very tired. I closed my eyes for a second, and I was asleep.

***

"Ester. Ester wake up. Ester. Ester please." A voice cried, coming through the fog that was my sleep. I slowly blinked my eyes a few times before finally opening them fully. The Doctor's head was above mine, his eyes filled with worry until he processed that I woke up.

"What happened?" I asked him, seeing his face break out into a massive grin.

"You're okay. Oh thank Rassailon." He said, kissing me long and hard on the lips, happily surprising me.

"Doctor? What happened?" I asked him once we broke apart.

"You were sucked in, like the rest of them." He explained. "But they were all awake when we found them, when I saw that you weren't..." His eyes went dark and sad.

I propped myself up on my elbow, raising my head off the ground enough to reach his lips to give him a quick kiss. "Hey, look at me." I told him, looking into his eyes. "I'm okay, I'm fine." I reassured him, seeing his eyes lighten up a bit. The two of us were snapped out of our own little trances when we heard a cough come from behind us.

I turned my head to the side and my face broke out into a wide grin. "Rose!" I smiled, feeling as if I could start crying again; but this time the tears would be happy tears.

Rose's face had a similar grin to my own. "Hi Ester."

"Help me up?" I asked the Doctor who was looking at the two of us with a smirk on his face. He took a hold of my hand and helped me onto my feet before I attacked Rose with a massive hug.

"I hope you realize you are  _never_  aloud to do that again, yeah?" I said into her hair, getting a laugh from both her and the Doctor.

***

  
"We could go down the Mall, join in with the crowds." Rose suggested as we walked on Tommy's street with Tommy, which had been turned into a large street party.

"Nah, that's just pomp and circumstance. This is history right here." I told her, motioning to the kids running through the yards, playing a game of tag.

"The domestic approach." Rose said.

"Exactly." The Doctor agreed, grinning down at my sister.

"Will it, that thing, is it trapped for good on video?" Rose asked.

"Hope so. Just to be on the safe side though, I'll use my unrivaled knowledge of transtemporal extirpation methods to neutralize the residual electronic pattern." He rambled, earning himself a confused look from Rose.

"You what?"

"He's going to tape over it." I explained.

"Just leave it to me. I'm always doing that." Rose said, throwing me a smirk.

"She rather good at it too, she taped over my copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets with a nature documentary." I said, shooting her back a look.

"It was for school!" Rose defended.

"Sure it was."

"Tell you what, Tommy, you can have the scooter. Little present." The Doctor told Tommy. "Best, er, keep it in the garage for a few years though, eh?"

"Good riddance." Tommy said bitterly as we watched his father leave the house with an overcoat and a suitcase.

"Is that it, then, Tommy? New monarch, new age, new world. No room for a man like Eddie Connelly." I told him, knowing that he didn't really feel that way about his father.

"That's right. He deserves it." Tommy said.

"Tommy, go after him." Rose told the boy.

"What for?"

"He's your dad." She said, no doubt thinking about her own.

"He's an idiot."

"Of course he is. Like I said, he's your dad. But you're clever. Clever enough to save the world, so don't stop there. Go on." Rose said. Tommy looked over at his father before running to him and helping him with his suitcase.

The Doctor wrapped his arm around my shoulder while we watched the two of them, smiles on our faces.


	22. The Broken Jumpseat

Bye Doctor." I said, pressing a kiss to his lips before he went back into the TARDIS.

"Bye Ester." He said with a bigger grin than normal.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked.

"Like what?" He asked, keeping the same grin on his face.

"You've got that stupid grin on your face again." I laughed, poking his nose. "And that one means one of two things; you either know something I don't, or I've got something on my face." He snickered at this. "So which is it?"

"Can't tell you." He laughed.

"I've got something on my face, don't I?" I asked, bringing a hand to my face. "It's not a spot is it? You would think after 700 or something years I would stop getting spots." I groaned.

"You don't have anything on your face, Ester." The Doctor laughed.

"So that narrows it down to you knowing something I don't know."

"Yes it does."

"Wanna tell me?" I asked, looking up at him with my best puppy dog eyes and a smile.

"As much as I would love to, I, sadly, can't." He said, causing me to groan.

"Not even the spoiler-free version?" I asked, batting my eyelashes at him, really trying to get it out of him and not willing to give up.

"Well, when you ask like that." He joked. "All I can say is that I know where you're going next, and you're going to love it." He said with a smile.

"That's all I'm going to get out of you, isn't it?"

"Yep." He said, pressing a kiss on my lips, which I happily returned.

"I love you." I said as we broke apart.

"I love you too."

We shared one last hug and one last kiss before he went back into the TARDIS and flew off with my sister in tow.

***

The next morning I got out of my bed and shuffled across my house to the kitchen to fix myself a bowl of cereal. I went to open the door to the kitchen to see that it got stuck after only opening a crack. I pushed against the door, thinking that there might have been a chair by the door that was blocking the entrance, but it didn't open any more than it already was.

I tried again. Nothing.

I looked at the small opening. I figured I could get through the entrance, so I tried, and somehow managed to get through it after some odd movements. Once I had gotten myself into the kitchen, I was finally able to see what was blocking my way.

A big blue box.

Of course it was.

"You need to get better at parking this thing." I called, announcing my entrance into the TARDIS as I walked into the ship.

"Ah, there you are." The Tenth Doctor said, not looking up from under the console. "About time, we've been here for a few hours already. Isn't that right Rose?" He called out, looking for a response from my sister. He wasn't going to get one, she wasn't in the console room.

"Doctor?" I asked. "Rose isn't in here." That got his attention.

"What?" He asked, looking around the room after getting out of his spot under the console. "She was just here, I was telling her about that very specific pattern that the wires under the console are in." He said, running a hand through his hair.

I messed with the monitor for a minute. "According to the TARDIS she's in her room." I said with a laugh. "Sorry dear." I said, a grin still on my face when I saw his pouty 'I'm-The-Most-Important-Thing-In-The-World-Why-Didn't-She-Stick-Around-To-Listen-To-The-Wisdom-Filled-Words-That-Come-Out-Of-My-Mouth?' look. "What were you doing under the console?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"I was looking for something to fix the jump seat. The back fell off again." He explained, pointing at the beat up jump seat that was, in fact, missing the back.

"Ah, I've got that covered." I said, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "I'll be back in a mo'." I told him, running off to my room in search of what I needed.

I walked into my room to see my bed unmade and some of my clothes thrown around the room. I sighed and collected some of the clothes, throwing them in the laundry bin before grabbing the roll of duct tape and walking back to the console room.

"I got the tape." I said, walking over to the jump seat, ready to fix it.

"Tape; didn't think of that one." The Doctor said, walking over to me and helping me by holding the back of the seat in place while I wrapped it in the tape, successfully holding it in it's correct place. I ripped the tape off of the roll and stuck the end to the seat, making sure it was all down.

"There we go." I said, falling back onto the jump seat. "All good as new." I said, smiling when he joined me on the seat.

"Just the way it was before." He agreed, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me close to his side. I brought my legs in close to me and rested my head on the Doctor's shoulder.

We sat there for a while, him playing with the bits of hair that had fallen out of the bun I had put my hair in last night before falling asleep, and me messing with his free hand. It was nice, not having to say anything, or think about anything and just enjoy being close to each other.

I had no idea how long the two of us were sitting there by the time Rose came in, phone in hand, snapping us out of our little trances.

"Mickey's got something for us to investigate."


	23. School Reunion

I walked into the already full classroom and to the front of the room, putting my bag down on my desk chair and picking up a green dry-erase marker from it's holder. The class was surprising quiet as I wrote ' _Shakespeare_ ' across the board, underlining it once before turning to my class.

"Good morning class, today we will be taking some notes on one of the most popular playwrights in history." I said, talking to the class of board looking thirteen year olds. "Now, has anyone read any Shakespeare? Seen any of his plays?" No response. "Well then, more to learn, I suppose." I said with a smile. "Can anyone tell me what sort of plays he wrote in his time?" I asked the class. A girl with short, curly red hair rose her hand. "Yes, uhm..."

"Ash." She responded. "He wrote comedies, histories and tragedies." She recited.

"Very good." I nodded, writing those three on the board. "Now Shakespeare also wrote short poems called, anyone?" I asked. Only Ash rose her hand. "Anyone new?" No response other than Ashely. "Ash?"

"Sonnets."

"Do you know how many sonnets he wrote?"

"154"

"How many plays?"

"38 known ones."

"Date of death?"

"April 23 1616."

"Number of children?"

"Three"

"Names?"

"Susanna, Hamnet and Judith."

"What's Helena's monologue in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 1 Scene 1 starting at 188?" I asked, knowing fully well there would be no way this girl could recite it.

"Call you me fair? That fair again unsay. Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair! Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue's sweet air more tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear, when wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear. Sickness is catching: O, were favor so, your's would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go; my ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye, my tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody. Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated, the rest I'd leave to you to be translated. O teach me how you look, and with what art you sway the motion of Demetrius' heart." She recited word for word.

Needless to say, I was floored.

***

A few hours later, I found myself in the lunch line with the Doctor behind me. A portion of chips was places onto my tray along with a fruit cup and finished with a scoop of some sort of mash given to me by Rose on the other side of the sneeze guard. Rose shot me and the Doctor a death glare before the two of us walked to find a table to sit at and eat.

"Two days." Rose said, coming to our table dressed in her lunch lady get up to wipe our table with her rag.

"Sorry, could you just? There's a bit of gravy. No, no, just, just there." I said, pointing my fork at a spot, taking full advantage of the situation. Rose shot me a glare and I could feel the Doctor laughing at my side.

"Two days, we've been here." Rose complained.

"Blame your boyfriend." The Doctor said. "He's the one who put us onto this. And he was right. Boy in class this morning, got a knowledge way beyond planet Earth."

"Really?" I asked him. "I had a girl like that in my first class. She could spew out entire Shakespeare monologues with just an act, scene and line number."

"You eating those chips?" Rose said, sitting with us and taking a chip off of my tray.

"Yeah, they're a bit different." The Doctor said. I nodded in agreement

"I think they're gorgeous. Wish I had school dinners like this." Rose said, eating some more of my fries. I responded by eating some of the Doctor's. He gave me a look and I shot him a smile.

"It's very well behaved, this place." I said.

"Mmm."

"I thought there'd be happy slapping hoodies. Happy slapping hoodies with ASBOs. Happy slapping hoodies with ASBOs and ringtones." The Doctor rambled, bringing a grin to my face. "Huh? Huh? Oh, yeah. Don't tell me I don't fit in."

"You fit in just fine." I said with a laugh as I took in another of his fries.

"You are not permitted to leave your station during a sitting." The head lunch lady told Rose.

"I was just talking to these teachers." Rose said, standing up from her seat.

"Hello." Me and Doctor said, giving the lady a wave and a smile.

"He doesn't like the chips." Rose said, pointing at the Doctor.

"The menu has been specifically designed by the headmaster to improve concentration and performance. Now, get back to work." The lady said, walking away from our table.

"See? This is me. Dinner lady." Rose sighed, showing off her uniform as she walked away form us.

"I'll have the crumble." The Doctor called, causing me to laugh.

"I'm so going to kill the two of you." She said as she walked away from us and back to her station. 

***

"Yesterday, I had a twelve year old girl give me the exact height of the Walls of Troy in cubits." Parson, a history teacher, told me and the Doctor as we sat in the staff room with some other teachers.

"And, it's ever since the new headmaster arrived?" I asked him.

"Finch arrived three months ago. Next day, half the staff got flu. Finch replaced them with that lot, except for the teacher you replaced, and that was just plain weird, her winning the lottery like that." Parson said, pointing to the Doctor.

"How's that weird?" He asked him, popping a crisp into his mouth.

"She never played. Said the ticket was posted through her door at midnight." He explained.

"Hmm. The world is very strange." The Doctor said, knowing fully well that we were the people that slipped the ticket under her door.

"Excuse me, colleagues." Headmaster Finch said when he walked into the room with a very familiar looking older woman that made my hearts stop in their track. A moment of your time. May I introduce Miss Sarah Jane Smith. Miss Smith is a journalist who's writing a profile about me for the Sunday Times. I thought it might be useful for her to get a view from the trenches, so to speak. Don't spare my blushes." Finch said, leaving soon after. Sarah Jane still in the room.

"Do you think it's really her? Our Sarah?" I asked the Doctor quietly. Both of us had stupid grins on our faces. He didn't get a chance to answer before Sarah Jane was making her way over to the two of us. She looked to be about 30 or 40 years older than when either of us had last saw her, but she was just as beautiful as she was when she was a young adult.

"Hello." She said, giving us a smile that warmed my hearts. I couldn't help but think of all the adventures the three of us had gone on in our time. The three of us were so young.

"Oh, I should think so." The Doctor said, not being able to take the grin off of his face. 

"And, you are?" She asked us.

"Hm? Er, Johnson. Sally Johnson." I said, using the name the rest of the school knew me by. The Doctor, Rose and I didn't want to look like we were connected in any way; so that ruled off Ester Tyler and Ester Smith, so I just went to the name I would turn to back when I was still going by The Teacher. before I became Ester.

"John Smith." The Doctor told her.

"Sally Johnson, John Smith. I used to have friends who sometimes went by those names." Sarah said, no doubt thinking about my third regeneration and the Doctor's fourth; the ones she traveled with.

"Well, they're very common names." I reasoned.

"They were very uncommon people. Nice to meet you." She nodded, smiling at us.

"Nice to meet you."

"Yes, very nice. More than nice. Brilliant."

"Er, so, er, have either of you worked here long?" She asked us.

"No. Er, it's only my second day." We both said together.

"Oh, you're new, then. So, what do you think of the school? I mean, this new curriculum? So many children getting ill. Doesn't that strike you as odd?" She questioned.

"You don't sound like someone just doing a profile." I told her.

"Well, no harm in a little investigation while I'm here." She said.

"No. Good for you." The Doctor said. Sarah nodded at us before she moved away and on to the next teacher. 

"Good for you. Oh, good for you, Sarah Jane Smith." The Doctor said, both of us grinning like maniacs.

"Our Sarah, look at our Sarah." I gushed.

***

"Oh, it's weird seeing school at night. It just feels wrong. When I was a kid, I used to think all the teachers slept in school." Rose said as her, Mickey, the Doctor and I walked through the dimly lit school that night. 

"All right, team. Oh, I hate people who say team." The Doctor told me, scrunching his nose up. "Er, gang. Er, comrades." He tried.

"How about you stop while you're ahead dear." I offered, placing a hand on his arm.

"Right. Anyway, Rose, go to the kitchen. Get a sample of that oil. Mickey, the new staff are all Maths teachers. Go and check out the Maths department. Me and Ester are going to look in Finch's office. Be back here in ten minutes." The Doctor said, grabbing my hand and taking me down the hall way.

"You think she's in the school?"

"Oh, she's definitely in the school."

"I still can't believe it's actually her." I said, feeling like I could run a marathon. The Doctor looked down at me and pressed his lips to my forehead. "What was that for?" I asked with a smile.

"I'm happy." He told me, a grin on his face. "Plus, you're cute when you're excited." He said, making my face go red.

There was a bat-like screech form somewhere in the school and the Doctor and I both took out our sonics, scanning to see if there was anything around us.

"Let's go to the TARDIS and check." I said, and we started towards the corridor where our TARDIS was parked.

When we got to the corridor where it was parked, we saw that the door to the storage room was opened slightly, We went into the room to see Sarah Jane Smith standing in front of the TARDIS in pure shock.

"Hello, Sarah Jane." Me and the Doctor said together.

"It's you." She whispered in disbelief "Oh, Teacher. Doctor Oh, my God, it's you, isn't it. You've both regenerated."

"Yeah. Half a dozen times since we last met." The Doctor said.

"I've only done it once." I bragged, shooting her a grin.

"You've always been the more reasonable one, haven't you Teacher?" She said with a small laugh. That lit a spark in my chest, part of me missing the time when I was the Teacher. When we were younger, when we were just flying through time and space. When everything was so much simpler. Before I was Ester. "You look incredible." She told us.

"So do you." The Doctor told her.

"Huh. I got old. What are you doing here?" She asked us.

"Well, UFO sighting, school gets record results. We couldn't resist." I told her. "What about you?"

"The same." She said, taking a pause before getting what she needed to off of her chest. "I thought you'd died. I waited for you and you didn't come back, and I thought you both must have died." She cried, her eyes tearing up.

"We lived. Everyone else died." I said, pained.

"What do you mean?" She asked in disbelief.

"Everyone died, Sarah." The Doctor repeated. "I thought she died, until I found her here." The Doctor said, looking at me.

"What?" Sarah asked.

"My parent's wiped my memories, made me human." I told her. "They sent me to Earth where I lived for eight years as a human named Ester Tyler. Then the Doctor found me and everything went back to normal." I told her.

"I can't believe it's you." She said, looking at me and the Doctor just before there was a ear piercing scream. "Okay, now I can!" She said before the three of us started running to the place of the scream. Just like the good old days.

***

"Did you hear that?" Rose asked us when we met up with her. "Who's she?" Rose asked, looking at Sarah.

"Rose, Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane, Rose." I introduced, still grinning.

"Hi. Nice to meet you." Sarah said before turning to us. "You can tell you two are getting older. Your assistants are getting younger." Sarah said, smirking at us as we went looking for Mickey.

"I'm not their assistant." Rose protested.

"No? Get you, tigers." Sarah said, giving us a wink.

"Sarah!"

"Sorry!" Mickey said when we found him in a classroom surrounded by vacuum packed rats. "Sorry, it was only me. You told me to investigate, so I started looking through some of these cupboards and all of these fell on me."

"Oh, my God, they're rats. Dozens of rats. Vacuum packed rats." Rose said, looking grossed out.

"And you decided to scream." I asked Mickey.

"It took me by surprise!" He defended.

"Like a little girl?" The Doctor asked.

"It was dark! I was covered in rats!"

"Nine, maybe ten years old. I'm seeing pigtails, frilly skirt." I said, looking to the Doctor.

"Yeah, sounds about right." He agreed.

"Hello, can we focus? Does anyone notice anything strange about this? Rats in school?" Rose asked.

"Well, obviously they use them in Biology lessons. They dissect them. Or maybe you haven't reached that bit yet. How old are you?" Sarah asked Rose.

"Excuse me, no one dissects rats in school anymore. They haven't done that for years. Where are you from, the dark ages?" Rose asked her, obviously not liking Sarah.

"Anyway, moving on." I said, trying to break up the cat fight that was unfolding in front of us. "Everything started when Mister Finch arrived. We should go and check his office." I offered.

***

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but who exactly are you?" Rose asked Sarah. 

"Sarah Jane Smith. I used to travel with the Doctor and the Teacher." Sarah told Rose.

"Her name's Ester. Not the Teacher." Rose told Sarah.

"Uh, Sarah knew me when I was still the Teacher." I told Rose, getting a dirty look shot at me from my sister.

"Oh, if you want I could call you Ester." Sarah said awkwardly. "It's a pretty name, and it fits; meaning star and all."

"No, I don't mind, which ever you feel more comfortable with. Teacher, Ester, I don't care." I reassured my friend.

"Thank you." She smiled at me.

"Oh. Well, they've never mentioned you." Rose said smugly.

"Oh, we must've done. Sarah Jane. Mention her all the time." The Doctor tried, both of us knowing we would be in the dog house for this.

"Hold on. Sorry. Never." Rose said, walking a few steps ahead of us.

"What, not even once? They didn't mention me even once?" Sarah asked, outraged as she quickened her pace to catch up with Rose.

"Well this isn't good at all." I said quietly.

"Ho, ho, mate. The missus and the ex. Welcome to every man's worst nightmare." Mickey said, patting the Doctor on the shoulder.

"Hey, if anyone's the 'missus' it's me." I defended, grabbing on to the Doctor's arm.

***

"Maybe those rats were food." I thought aloud as I soniced the door to the Headmaster's office open.

"Food for what?" Rose asked.

"Rose, you know you used to think all the teachers slept in the school?" The Doctor asked as we looked at the ceiling to see a dozen or so giant bats hanging upside down, asleep. "Well, they do." 

"No way!" Mickey exclaimed, running away, the rest of us following.

***

"I am not going back in there. No way." Mickey said once we were outside.

"Those were teachers." Rose said in disbelief.

"When Finch arrived, he brought with him seven new teachers, four dinner ladies and a nurse. Thirteen. Thirteen big bat people. Come on." The Doctor said, going back towards the school.

"Come on? You've got to be kidding!" Mickey said, not moving.

"We need the TARDIS. We've got to analyze that oil from the kitchen." I told him.

"I might be able to help you there. I've got something to show you." Sarah said, a grin on her face as she brought us to her car.

She opened the boot of her car to show: "K9!" Me and the Doctor exclaimed when we saw the metal dog.

"Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, allow me to introduce K9. Well, K9 Mark Three to be precise." The Doctor explained as I went to pet K9.

"Why does he look so disco?" Rose asked, not very impressed.

"Oi! Listen, in the year five thousand, this was cutting edge." I told Rose. "What's happened to him?" I asked, seeing that he wasn't responding to anything.

"Oh, one day, he just, nothing." Sarah sighed, looking at her dog.

"Well, didn't you try and get him repaired?" The Doctor asked.

"Well, it's not like getting parts for a Mini Metro, beside, the technology inside him could rewrite human science. I couldn't show him to anyone." She explained.

"Ooh, what's the nasty lady done to you, eh?" The Doctor cooed to the dog as he pet him, causing me to laugh.

"Look, no offense, but could you three just stop petting for a minute? Never mind the tin dog. We're busy." Rose asked.

We closed the trunk and filed into Sarah's car, heading away from the school.

****

"I thought of you on Christmas Day." Sarah said when the three of us were working on K9 in a diner while Rose and Mickey were getting food across the diner. "This Christmas just gone? Great big spaceship overhead. I thought, oh yeah, bet they're up there." She told us.

"Right on top of it, yeah." The Doctor nodded.

"Really?" I asked. "That sounds great, can't wait to do it."

"You haven't done it yet?" The Doctor asked.

"No, not yet."

"I'm sorry?" Sarah asked.

"Oh, sorry, I don't travel linearly anymore, I come for an adventure with one version of him then go off and go to another version of him." I told her. "We wanted to mix things up a bit."

"So you've seen other regenerations of him?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty fun." I told her honestly.

"And Rose? Was she up there with you two?" Sarah asked the Doctor.

"She was there too."

"Did I do something wrong, because you never came back for me." Sarah asked, causing me and the Doctor to look up from K9. "You just dumped me."

"I told you. We were called back home and in those days humans weren't allowed." The Doctor said as I looked at her sadly.

"I waited for you. I missed you." She said.

"Oh, you didn't need us." I told her, trying to lighten the conversation. "You were getting on with your life."

"You were my life." She told us. "You know what the most difficult thing was? Coping with what happens next, or with what doesn't happen next. You took me to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, you showed me supernovas, intergalactic battles, and then you just dropped me back on Earth. How could anything compare to that?"

"All those things you saw, do you want us to apologize for that?" The Doctor asked.

"No, but we get a taste of that splendor and then we have to go back." She said.

"Look at you, you're investigating. You found that school. You're doing what we always did." I told her with a smile, taking Sarah's hand in mine.

"You could have come back."

"We couldn't."

"Why not?" She asked.

Neither me or the Doctor wanted to answer. To tell her that we got distracted. That we just kept going like we always did. That we just kept going straight ahead without looking back. She was smart, she probably knew this herself.

"It wasn't Croydon." Sarah said, breaking the silence that fell between the three of us. "Where you dropped me off, that wasn't Croydon."

"Where was it?" I asked her.

"Aberdeen."

"Right. That's next to Croydon, isn't it?" The Doctor asked. The three of us broke into laughter, the awkward tension finally dissolved. Some motion coming form K9 caught my eye.

"Oh, hey. Now we're in business." I said, smiling down at the robot dog that was now back in function.

"Mistress. Master." K9 greeted us, Rose and Mickey coming over to us.

"He recognizes us." I gushed, looking down at the little robot.

"Affirmative." He said, turning his ears.

"Rose, give us the oil." The Doctor told her.

"I wouldn't touch it, though. That dinner lady got all scorched." Rose said, handing him the vial of oil.

"I'm no dinner lady. And I don't often say that." The Doctor said, sticking a finger in the oil before smearing it on K9's sensor.

"Yeah, I wouldn't keep that line if I was you." I told the Doctor as we waited for K9 to process the oil.

"Here we go. Come on, boy. Here we go."

"Oil. Ex-ex-ex-extract. Ana-ana-analyzing." K9 stuttered.

"Listen to him, man. That's a voice." Mickey laughed.

"Careful. That's my dog." Sarah defended.

"Confirmation of analysis. Substance is Krillitane Oil." K9 said, causing me to let out a sigh and run a hand through my hair.

"They're Krillitanes." The Doctor said, just as nervous as me.

"Is that bad?" Rose asked.

"Very." I told her. "Think of how bad things could possibly be, and add another suitcase full of bad."

"And what are Krillitanes?" Sarah asked.

"They're a composite race." I explained. "Just like your culture is a mixture of traditions from all sorts of countries, people you've invaded or have been invaded by. You've got bits of Viking, bits of France, bits of whatever. The Krillitanes are the same. An amalgam of the races they've conquered. But they take physical aspects as well. They cherry pick the best bits from the people they destroy." I told them, rattling off my facts.

"That's why we didn't recognise them. The last time we saw Krillitanes, they looked just like us except they had really long necks." The Doctor added on.

"What're they doing here?" Rose asked.

"It's the children." I said grimly. "They're doing something to the children."

***

"How many of us have there been traveling with you?" Rose asked as we walked out of the diner to Sarah's car; Sarah, Mickey and K9 in front of us.

"Does it matter?" The Doctor asked her.

"Yeah, it does, if I'm just the latest in a long line." Rose told us.

"As opposed to what?" I asked her.

"I thought the three of us were... I obviously got it wrong. I've been to the year five billion, right, but this? Now this is really seeing the future. You two just leave us behind. Is that what you're going to do to me?"

"No. Not to you." I told Rose.

"But Sarah Jane? You were that close to her once, and now you never even mention her. Why not?"

"We don't age, Rose. We regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone who you love." I said, my voice thickening. "You can spend the rest of your life with us, but we can't spend the rest of our's with you. We're both so old. He's 800 and something and I'm 500? 600? I'm so old I don't even remember how old I am!" I sighed.

"We have to live on." The Doctor continued. "Alone. That's the curse of the Time Lords." I grabbed his hand in mine, giving it a squeeze to remind him that I would be there with him.

All of a sudden, a giant bat flew down, swooping over us as we ducked to the ground.

"Was that a Krillitane?" Sarah asked after it flew away.

"But it didn't even touch any of us. It just flew off. What did it do that for?" Rose asked.

***

Since the TARDIS was still in the school, Sarah Jane let the four of us stay at her home. It was a very nice place, a little big for just one person, but nice none the less. Rose and Mickey each got a guest room, and the Doctor and I volunteered to sleep in the living room.

"Thank you again, for all of this." I told her as me and her sat in the living room as the Doctor made tea.

"Well it's not like I could have left you on the street!" Sarah laughed. "Besides, late night conversations and tea, it's just like old times."

"It is, isn't it." I agreed with her, sending her a warm smile.

"So what's new? A couple hundred years must be enough time for something interesting to happen." Sarah asked me. "Met anyone yet?"

"Of course I've met people! Each time you walk out of a building you meet someone-"

"You know that's not what I meant Teacher." She said, giving me the same grin that I've seen on both Amy and Rose's face.

"Oh. Oh!" I said, quickly decided that I wouldn't make this easy for my friend. "Yeah, I guess you could say I have." I told her, a smile on my face.

"Really? Who?" Sarah exclaimed, the same exact glint in her eyes that I've seen so many times before.

"My lips are sealed." I told her with a smirk.

"Is he an alien?"

"Yes, he's an alien." I laughed.

"Will you tell me his name?" She begged. I shook my head 'no' in response. "Fine, what's he like then?"

"Well." I started. "He's tall, and smart, and he's very good under pressure. He's heroic and kind and funny. And sometimes his fashion sense is just hilarious." I told her, thinking about my bow-tie wearing Doctor with a fond smile on my face. "He's a science geek, and he's very fond of his means of transportation." The Doctor came in to the living room, carrying three mugs of tea for us. "He's also the best at making tea." I said, taking my mug form his hands.

And that was when the penny dropped for Sarah.

"The two of you?" She questioned, a grin on her face and her eyes wide. "You're, you, really?" She asked not be able to fully process her thoughts.

"What's going on?" The Doctor asked as he sat down on the couch next to me, not understanding why Sarah was acting like she was.

"I just told Sarah about us." I told him, taking his hand in mine. Sarah was quiet for a moment. "Sarah?" I asked her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said smiling at us. "I"m so happy for you two." She wrapped her arms around the both of us, pulling us into a tight hug.

"Thanks." Me and the Doctor both said awkwardly as our faces went a little red.

"How long have you been together?" Sarah asked us once we had broken apart.

"Hard to say. A couple months for me?" I said, unsure of how long ago it has actually happened for me. Keeping track of dates and years and ages wasn't really something you did when you traveled to a different century ever other day.

"A few years for me." The Doctor said.

"The two of you just can't do things the easy way, can you?" Sarah asked us with a smile.

"Where's the fun in that?" The Doctor asked with a smirk, causing me to laugh a little.

"I suppose you're right."Sarah agreed.

We talked for another hour or two before Sarah left for her room, leaving me and the Doctor in the living room. Instead of the Doctor moving to the other couch like I had assumed he would, he simply laid down on the one we were sitting on, pulling me down with him so my back was pressed against his chest. He quickly pulled a blanket over us before wrapping his arms around my middle. All of his movements were so fluid, making me believe that this was something he was used to doing.

It was so easy to just melt into his arms and relax, my mind wanting to constantly stay in that state. Everything about it just felt so natural; the way my body seemed to fit so perfectly against his, the feeling of security that filled me when he tightened his arms around me, the warm feeling that ran its way through my body.

"This is nice." I said quietly, a smile on my face.

"Very." He agreed, placing a kiss on the top of my head. It wasn't long until I drifted off, falling into a deep sleep.

***

"Rose, Ester and Sarah, you go to the Maths room. Crack open those computers, I need to see the hardware inside." The Doctor said as we all stood in the front of the school as the students started filing into the building. "Do you have your sonic?" The Doctor asked me.

"Yeah." I said, taking my sonic out of my pocket to show him.

"Good. Mickey, surveillance. I want you outside." He told him.

"Just stand outside?" Mickey asked.

"Here, take these you can keep K9 company." Sarah told him, tossing him her car keys.

"Don't forget to leave the window open a crack." The Doctor told Mickey.

"But he's metal!"

"He didn't mean for him." I told Mickey.

"What're you going to do?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"It's time I had a word with Mister Finch." He said. I wrapped my arms around him and he placed a kiss on my cheek. "Make sure they aren't at each other's throats." He whispered into my ear.

"I'll do my best." I told him, giving him a quick kiss before running off after Rose and Sarah.

***

"Here." I told Sarah, giving her my sonic once we had gotten into the class room with all of the computers. "Try breaking into the main computer; I'll try re-wiring the router." I told her before we started on the tasks at hand.

"It's not working." Sarah groaned after some time had passed.

"Give it to me." Rose said.

"Used to work first time in my day." Sarah said once she gave it to Rose. I was messing with some wires, not actually doing anything at all, but using this as an opportunity to try to get the girls closer together.

"Well, things were a lot simpler back then." Rose told Sarah.

"Rose, can I give you a bit of advice?" Sarah asked.

"I've got a feeling you're about to."

"I know how intense a relationship with the Doctor and Ester can be, and I don't want you to feel I'm intruding-"

"I don't feel threatened by you, if that's what you mean." Rose said as she kept working.

"Right. Good. Because I'm not interested in picking up where we left off."

"No? With the big sad eyes and the robot dog? What else were you doing last night?" Rose asked Sarah.

"I was just saying how hard it was adjusting to life back on Earth."

"The thing is, when you three met they'd only just got rid of rationing. No wonder all that space stuff was a bit too much for you." Rose said, making me think my plan to get them closer might not have worked out so well.

"I had no problem with space stuff. I saw things you wouldn't believe." Sarah countered.

"Try me."

"Rose, Sarah-" I said, standing up as I tried prevent any fighting between the two.

"Mummies."

"I've met ghosts."

"Robots. Lots of robots."

"Slitheen, in Downing Street."

"Daleks!"

"Met the Emperor."

"Woah, wait. What?" I asked, but my questioned went unanswered.

"Anti-matter monsters."

"Gas masked zombies."

"Real living dinosaurs."

"Real living werewolf." Okay, now I wasn't sure if Rose was making this up or not.

"The Loch Ness Monster!" Sarah yelled, causing Rose to look a little dumbfounded.

"Seriously?" Rose asked. "Listen to us. It's like me and my mate Shireen. The only time we fell out was over a man, and we're arguing over the Doctor and Ester." Rose laughed along with Sarah.

"Oh, you're laughing. That's good right? Laughter means friendship?" I asked, going closer to the girls.

"I believe it dose." Sarah laughed, Rose nodded in agreement, causing a smile to spread on my face.

"Great!"

"Oh!" Rose said, realizing something that she wanted to ask Sarah. "With you, did the Doctor do that thing where he'd explain something at like, ninety miles per hour, and you'd go, what? and he'd look at you like you'd just dribbled on your shirt?" Rose asked, still laughing as I snorted, knowing exactly what face she was talking about.

"All the time! Does he still stroke bits of the TARDIS?" Sarah asked Rose.

"Yeah! Yeah, he does. I'm like, do you two want to be alone? Sometimes it's almost as if he's the TARDIS's boyfriend instead of Ester's!" Rose laughed. I laughed along too; knowing I was equally guilty of doing the same with the TARDIS myself, but not wanting to admit it to them. The door to the room opened to show the Doctor and the girls broke into another fit of laughter.

"How's it going?" The Doctor asked when he came into the room. The girls kept laughing and I made my way across the room to him.

"Pretty good, I'd say." I told him with a smile as the two kept laughing behind me.

"Why are you laughing?" The Doctor asked them, a look of confusion on him face. "What? Listen, I need to find out what's programmed inside these-" the girls got to a point of hysteria and the Doctor was utterly confused. "What? Stop it!" He whined. I just went up on my tip toes and placed a kiss on his nose, letting the girls laugh as much as they needed to.

***

"All pupils to class immediately. And would all members of staff congregate in the staff room." Came ringing through the school building a half hour later when we had actually gotten to working on the central CPU that help the code.

"No, no. This classroom's out of bounds. You've all got to go to the South Hall. Off you go. South Hall!" Rose said, turning students away from entering the class room as me and the Doctor were messing with the wires of the CPU; the Doctor sporting some of those wires around his neck and shoulders.

"I can't shift it." I groaned after my sonic had not been able to get us into the CPU.

"I thought the sonic screwdriver could open anything!" Sarah said.

"Anything except a deadlock seal. There's got to be something inside here. What're they teaching those kids?" The Doctor asked. Sarah typed something into the computer and brought up the symbol filler code on all of the computer monitors.

"You wanted the program? There it is." She said, motioning to the screens.

"Some sort of code." I said, trying to depict it until it all of a sudden started it solve itself. "No. No, that can't be."

"The Skasis Paradigm." The Doctor said, looking at the monitor as well. "They're trying to crack the Skasis Paradigm."

"The Skasis what?" Sarah asked.

"The God maker." I explained, not taking my eyes off of the screen. "The universal theory. Crack that equation and you've got control of the building blocks of the universe. Time and space and matter, yours to control."

"What, and the kids are like a giant computer?" Rose asked.

"Yes. And their learning power is being accelerated by the oil. That oil from the kitchens, it works as a, as a conducting agent. Makes the kids cleverer." The Doctor explained.

"But that oil's on the chips. I've been eating them." Rose told us.

"What's fifty nine times thirty five?" I asked her.

"Two thousand and sixty five." Rose answered almost instantaneously. "Oh, my God."

"But why use children? Can't they use adults?" Sarah asked.

"No, it's got to be children. The God maker needs imagination to crack it. They're not just using the children's brains to break the code, they're using their souls." I told her just before the door to the class room opened and Headmaster Finch walked in.

"Let the lesson begin." He said, walking towards me and the Doctor. "Think of it, Doctor, Ester. With the Paradigm solved, reality becomes clay in our hands. We can shape the universe and improve it." He temped.

"Oh yeah? The whole of creation with the face of Mister Finch? Call me old fashioned, but I like things as they are." I told him with a smirk.

"You act like such a radical, and yet all you want to do is preserve the old order? Think of the changes that could be made if this power was used for good." Finch said.

"What, by someone like you?" The Doctor asked him.

"No, someone like the two of you." He told us. "The Paradigm gives us power, but you could give us wisdom. Become Gods at my side. Imagine what you could do. Think of the civilisations you could save. Perganon, Assinta. Your own people, Time Lords, standing tall. The Time Lords reborn." He tempted us, like waving a fresh piece of meet in front of a starving dog.

"Teacher, Doctor, don't listen to him." Sarah said, her voice sounding miles away. Me and the Doctor just stared Finch. I could help get rid of all of that guilt the Doctor carried. I could lose my own guilt caused by leaving him. We could live normally again, with our friends and family. We wouldn't be alone.

"And you could be with them throughout eternity." Finch said to Sarah and Rose. "Young, fresh, never wither, never age, never die. Their lives are so fleeting. So many goodbyes. How lonely you must be, Doctor, Ester. Join us." Whatever fate that faced Rose could be prevented. I could save my sister.

"We could save everyone." We said together.

"Yes."

"I could stop the war."

"They wouldn't die."

"No." Sarah said, trying to break us out of our deep thoughts. "The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it's a world, or a relationship, everything has its time. And everything ends." Sarah said.

There was silence for a moment until the Doctor took control of the entire situation. He threw a chair at the main computer screen, smashing it to bits. "Out!" He yelled, taking my hand and running to the stair cases. Rose and Sarah ran after us as Finch let out a screech, summoning the other bat like creatures. We met with Mickey and Kenny, one of the students, at the bottom of the stairs.

"What is going on?" Mickey said, only to get pulled along by Rose as the Krillitanes continued to chase us. We ran to the lunch hall, trying to find somewhere to hide.

Finch walked in, followed by the bats.

"Are they my teachers?" Kenny asked the Doctor.

"Yeah. Sorry." The Doctor said quickly.

"We need the Doctor and Ester alive. As for the others? You can feast." Finch said before the bats started swooping down on us. We all ducked under the tables that filled the room, the Doctor not letting go of my hand. From under the table I saw a laser shoot at one of the bats, sending it to the ground.

"K9!" Sarah exclaimed, happy to see the metal dog as we crawled out from under the tables.

"Suggest you engage running mode, mistress." K9 told Sarah.

"Come on!" The Doctor said, getting everyone running as me and him stayed with K9z

"K9, hold them back!" I told him as me and the Doctor ran out of the room.

"Affirmative, Mistress. Maximum defense mode." I heard him say as we left the lunch room for the Physics class the Doctor had been teaching in these past few days.

***

"It's the oil." I thought aloud once the Doctor had sealed us all in the Physics classroom. "Krillitane life forms can't handle the oil. That's it!" I exclaimed. "They've changed their physiology so often, even their own oil is toxic to them. How much was there in the kitchens?" I asked Rose.

"Barrels of it." Rose said over the noise of the Krillitanes battering against the doors to the classroom.

"Okay, we need to get to the kitchens." The Doctor said before turning to Mickey. "Mickey."

"What now, hold the coats?" Mickey asked bitterly.

"Get all the children unplugged and out of the school. Now then, bats, bats, bats. How do we fight bats?" The Doctor rambled. Kenny looked at all of us before hitting the fire alarm with his elbow, shattering the glass and setting out the loud, high pitch alarm. The students started evacuating the school as we head towards the kitchens.

***

"They've been deadlock sealed." The Doctor said after he tried opening one of the barrels of Krillitane oil in the Kitchen with his sonic. "Finch must've done that. I can't open them." He sighed.

"Seriously? Who in there right mind deadlock seals a barrel?" I groaned.

"The vats would not withstand a direct hit from my laser, but my batteries are failing." K9 told us. 

"Right." The Doctor said. "Everyone out the back door. K9 and Ester, stay with me."

Together, the Doctor and I were able to line up several of the barrels of oil for K9 to shoot.

"Capacity for only one shot, Mistress, Master. For maximum impact, I must be stationed directly beside the vat." K9 said, making my hearts grow heavy.

"But you'll be trapped inside." I told him.

"That is correct." K9 agreed.

"We can't let you do that." The Doctor said, looking just as pained as I was feeling.

"No alternative possible, Mistress, Master." K9 told us, making my hearts feel like two cement blocks in my chest.

"Goodbye, old friend." The Doctor told K9, grabbing my hand in his.

"I'll never forget you." I told the little dog, giving him the same sad smile the Doctor had on his face.

"Goodbye, Master. Goodbye, Mistress." K9 said.

"You good dog." Me and the Doctor said together before leaving him.

"Affirmative."

We left the kitchen to the outside of the school, me sealing the doors shut with my sonic before the inevitable happened.

"Where's K9?" Sarah asked, coming to us.

"We need to run." The Doctor said, not giving her an answer as he took her hand and started running along side me, away from the building.

"Where is he? What have you done!" Sarah yelled as she was taken away from the building.

The school blew up with a bang and paper rained down on all of the students in standing in the parking lot.

"Yes!" Kenny cheered near us.

"Did you have something to do with it?" A girl asked Kenny.

"Yeah, I did." He responded proudly.

"Oh my God. Kenny blew up the school! It was Kenny!" The girl yelled to her classmates.

"Yay! Kenny! Kenny! Kenny! Kenny!" The children chanted, but I could only think of what we had lost inside that school building.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor said, seeing Sarah's distressed stature.

"It's all right. He was just a daft metal dog. It's fine, really." Sarah said, trying to keep her emotions in check before finally bursting out into tears. I pulled her into a tight hug, letting her cry into my shoulder as I did to her, letting my own emotions finally get the better of me.

***

"Cup of tea?" I asked Sarah outside the TARDIS in a park by her home. She accepted and walked into the TARDIS with me. It was her first time seeing the TARDIS since she had left it all those long years ago.

"You've redecorated." Sarah noted, looking around at the beautiful ship. Sure it wasn't as sleek or as elegant as the TARDIS that the Eleventh Doctor flew around in with Amy and Rory, but there was something special about this grunge looking ship that reflected the personality of the Ninth Doctor.

"Do you like it?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, I, I do. Yeah. I preferred it as it was, but er, yeah. It'll do." Sarah said.

"I love it." Rose said with a grin from her spot on the jump seat.

"Hey, you what's forty seven times three hundred and sixty nine?" Sarah asked Rose with a grin.

"No idea. It's gone now. The oil's faded." Rose responded with a small laugh.

"But you're still clever. More than a match for them." Sarah told her, pointing at me and the Doctor.

"You and me both. Doctor? Ester?" Rose asked, pushing us to ask Sarah the question we had been wanting to ask her since we first saw her in that storage area.

"Er, we're about to head off, but you could come with us." The Doctor said as I stood next to him, giving Sarah a bright and hopeful smile. 

"No." She sighed. "I can't do this anymore. Besides, I've got a much bigger adventure ahead. Time I stopped waiting for you and found a life of my own." She told us.

"Can I come?" Mickey asked, none of us sure what he meant. "No, not with you, I mean with you three. Because I'm not the tin dog, and I want to see what's out there." Mickey told us. The Doctor and I shared an uncertain look with each other.

"Oh, go on, Ester, Doctor." Sarah said with a smile. "Sarah Jane Smith, a Mickey Smith. You need a Smith on board." She smirked.

The Doctor looked my way again, as if he was asking if I was okay with this. I gave him a smile and a nod, thinking it would be good for Rose to have another human on board with her, even if it meant having to keep a constant watch on the two of them, making sure Mickey had his own room, far away from Rose's. She was my little sister, after all. Maybe I could put a little bell on his door...

"Okay then, we could do with a laugh." The Doctor answered for us, draping his arm over my shoulders.

"Rose, is that okay?" Mickey asked Rose.

"No, great. Why not?" Rose said in a weird tone. It was almost like she was trying to cover up her true feelings. I made a mental note to talk to her about it.

"Well, I'd better go." Sarah said, a sad smile on her face.

"We'll be outside." I told Sarah, taking the Doctor's hand and walking out with him, knowing we still had one last gift to put in place for Sarah.

She was out of the TARDIS a couple minutes later, right after we had place her present behind the TARDIS so she would be sure to see it once we had left.

"It's daft, but I haven't ever thanked you for that time." Sarah told us. "And like I said, I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

"Something to tell the grandkids." The Doctor smiled at her.

"Oh, I think it'll be someone else's grandkids now. Your's even." Sarah said.

"Right. Yes, sorry. We didn't get a chance to ask." I said, my eyes wide with realization. "You haven't? There hasn't been anyone? You know." I said awkwardly, feeling like a bad friend.

"I never quiet found the time to settle down too much. I didn't want to get tied down in case these two old friends of mine showed up." She said while keeping a smile on her face. "Good bye Doctor. Goodbye Ester."

"Sarah-"

"Oh, it's not goodbye."

"Do say it. Please. This time. Say it." She asked, wanting some type of closure.

"Goodbye, our Sarah Jane." Me and the Doctor said together, giving Sarah the biggest smiles we could muster.

I pulled her into a tight hug, my eyes tearing up as I did so. Once I had let her go, the Doctor, being as tall as he was, lifted her off her feet in one big hug. Once her feet were back on the ground, the Doctor and I walked back into the TARDIS, closing the doors behind us.

After the Doctor wiped a stray tear from my face and placed a kiss on my forehead, we flew off, sending the TARDIS into the Time Vortex and simultaneously giving Sarah Jane Smith her present; a fixed tin dog named K9.


	24. The Tables Have Turned

"I think I actually know where you're going next." I told the Doctor as I sat in the jump seat, flipping through my small leather journal. I though back to when we found 18th century France on a spaceship; that was Mickey's first adventure in the TARDIS.

"Is this a first for you?" The Doctor asked me, sitting down next to me on the old seat that was held together primarily by duct tape.

"Spoilers!" I said, shutting my journal when I saw him trying to sneak a peak at it. "And yes, this hasn't happened to me before." I told him, leaning my head on his shoulder, my journal in my lap. "I mean, I know that the things I do with you come after the leather jacket you and vice versa, but I've never known where exactly you're going next or which me you're picking up."

"Any hints on where I'm going?" The Doctor asked. I though about it for a minute, trying to think of some sort of riddle to give him; but then I remembered Reinette.

I slapped him fairly hard in the chest, and I wasn't sure if he was affected more by the shock or the actual blow.

"What was that for?" He questioned, his voice raising a few octaves while he tried to put reason to my actions.

"You wanted a hint, I gave you one. And you're bloody lucky that you didn't get anything worse than that." I told him sternly.

"Whatever I did, I haven't done it yet!" He whined.

"Still." I said shortly.

"Is whatever stupid thing I did redeemable?" The Doctor asked me, looking at me with those brown doe eyes of his.

I sighed, resisting the urge to smile. "I suppose there is  _something_  you can do to make things better." I told him.

"Oh really?" The Doctor questioned, raising an eyebrow at me. "And what might that be?"

"Well, it might include me and you." I started, talking slowly as I did. "We could send Rose on a wild goose chase in the TARDIS and while she's doing that we could land the TARDIS on some beautiful planet we've never been to yet. We could lock Rose in the TARDIS and we could spend some alone time together on the beautiful planet without having to babysit." I offered, looking at him with a smile.

"I think that's do able on my part." The Doctor agreed, giving me a smile that caused my hearts to beat at double their speed.

"Then we have our plan."

"That we do." He said, bringing his face close to mine and getting rid of the space between us. My hand went to his hair as his went to my waist; the two of us lost in everything that was us. We could have stayed like that for eternity, but we broke apart when we heard a cough come from across the console unit.

" _Mickey_." The Doctor groaned.

"Yeah, are we going any where?" Mickey asked us from across the console. "I mean, I could fly if you-"

" _NO!"_  Me and the Doctor said, getting up and on our feet at break neck speed.

"Do not touch a single button on that control panel." I told Mickey, my voice deadly serious. "One wrong push of a button and this ship will end up tearing a hole in the fabric of reality. This ship is possibly the most dangerous thing in the universe."

"And the two of you get control of it?" Mickey exclaimed, looking as if he felt someone had made the biggest mistake of their lives by placing the two of us in it.

"We're the last Time Lords; it comes with the title." The Doctor told him.

"Look, I just have to be dropped off and then you can start traveling." I said. "Mickey, go find Rose; I think she's in the library." I told the boy, he ran off in search for my sister, leaving me and the Doctor in the console room.

"Where do I pick you up?" The Doctor asked as we started flying the TARDIS towards my flat.

"A park by Mum's flat." I told him, writing the coordinates down on a blank page of my journal, which I then ripped out and handed to him as he flew.

We landed in the living room of my house, empty as it should be. After I said my goodbyes and gave out my hugs and a kiss to the Doctor, I left the ship I called my home and watched as it disappeared from my house to the park where the younger, confused girl sat swinging on a swing and waiting for her best friend to sweep her off her feet.


	25. Silence in the Library

"Ester!" A voice called from my living room. "Are you in?" I walk to the room to find the Doctor and Donna walking out of the TARDIS. "Ah, there you are. Ready to go?"

"Sure, where are we going?" I asked, giving Donna a hug as a greeting.

"The Library." The Doctor told me, taking my hand and pulling me into the TARDIS.

"The Library?" Donna asked. "Don't you lot have like seven of those in here?"

"We've only got one. We have seven swimming pools." I corrected her.

"Still, why are we just going to a library? Can't we go to a planet or something?" She asked.

"Books. People never really stop loving books." Was all the Doctor said as we flew to the greatest library in the history of the universe. 

***

"Fifty first century." I said when we stepped out of the TARDIS and into the Library. "By now you've got holovids, direct to brain downloads, fiction mist, but you need the smell. The smell of books, Donna. Deep breath." I said, inhaling the beautiful smell of old books and parchment.

"The Library. So big it doesn't need a name. Just a great big The." The Doctor said as we walked up a elegant marble staircase.

"It's like a city." Donna said in awe.

"It's a world." I told her. "Literally, a world. The whole core of the planet is the index computer. Biggest hard drive ever. And up here, every book ever written. Whole continents of Jeffrey Archer, Bridget Jones, Monty Python's Big Red Book, the entire Harry Potter collection. Brand new editions, specially printed." We then went to look over a balcony to see the multitude of levels both above an below us.

"We're near the equator, so this must be biographies." The Doctor noted. "I love biographies."

"Yeah, very you. Always a death at the end." Donna said, looking at the spines of the books in front of her.

"You need a good death." The Doctor argued. "Without death, there'd only be comedies. Dying gives us size." Donna picked up a book off of the shelf in front of her, she went to open it, but the Doctor took it from her and held it in his own hands before she could turn to page one. "Way-a. Spoilers." He told her.

"What?"

"These books are from your future." I told her. "You don't want to read ahead. Spoil all the surprises. Like peeking at the end."

"Isn't travelling with you one big spoiler?

"We try to keep you away from major plot developments." I told her, thinking about that for a moment. "Which, to be honest, we seem to be very bad at, because you know what? This is the biggest library in the universe. So where is everyone?" I asked, feeling a bit on wryness settle in the pit of my stomach. "It's silent."

The Doctor hurried over to a nearby information screen and used his sonic on it, bringing it online.

"The library?" Donna asked, reading the screen. It only showed three life sources, Donna, me and the Doctor.

"The planet. The whole planet." I said in shock, trying to come up with at least a theory as to where everyone was.

"Maybe it's a Sunday." Donna answered.

"No, we never land on Sundays. Sundays are boring." The Doctor said, brushing off her comment.

"Well, maybe everyone's really, really quiet." She offered.

"Yeah, maybe. But they'd still show up on the system." I told her.

"Doctor, why are we here? Really, why?" Donna asked. "You were the one who chose to go here, why?"

"Oh, you know, just passing." The Doctor said, his voice increasing a few octaves as he tugged on his ear; the tell-take signs that he was lying.

"Doctor." I warned him.

"No, seriously." Donna said. "Before we picked up Ester it was all let's hit the beach, then suddenly we're in a library. Why?"

"Now that's interesting." The Doctor said, looking at the screen.

"What?"

"Scanning for life forms." He explained. "If I do a scan looking for your basic humanoids. You know, your book readers, few limbs and a face, apart from us, I get nothing. Zippo, nada. See? Nobody home. But if I widen the parameters to any kind of life." The screen then flashed an error, saying its 1,000,000,000,000 life form max had been capped off.

"A million, million. Gives up after that. A million, million." I said, flabbergasted.

"But there's nothing here. There's no one." Donna said, confused at the large number.

"And not a sound." I added. "A million, million life forms, and silence in the library."

"But there's no one here. There's just books. I mean, it's not the books, is it? I mean, it can't be the books, can it? I mean, books can't be alive." She rambled. That brought a disturbing image into my mind. What if the books were the people? I could help but think that if I were to open one of the multitude of books I would find a face in it. Or worse.

Donna and the Doctor must have been thinking on the same wavelengths as me, because we all slowly and cautiously reached for books on the shelfs around us. But just before any of us could grab one, a computerized voice came from behind us, making us jump. 

"Welcome." Came from the next room.

"That came from here." Donna asked us breathlessly.

"Yeah." We said in a similar state as her.

We went into the next room. It was pretty empty except for the curved information desk and the humanoid with a female human's face standing by the desk.  
"I am Courtesy Node seven one zero slash aqua." The nose said, introducing themselves. "Please enjoy the Library and respect the personal access codes of all your fellow readers, regardless of species or hygiene taboo."

"That face, it looks real." Donna said. Unlike her, me and the Doctor knew it was, in fact, real.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." We told her together, knowing she would freak out if she Jew the truth.

"A statue with a real face, though? It's a hologram or something, isn't it?"

"No, but really, it's fine." I reassured her, trying to get her off of the subject.

"Additional." The node continued. "There follows a brief message from the Head Librarian for your urgent attention. It has been edited for tone and content by a Felman Lux Automated Decency Filter. Message follows. Run. For God's sake, run. No way is safe. The library has sealed itself, we can't. Oh, they're here. Argh. Slarg. Snick. Message ends. Please switch off your mobile comm. units for the comfort of other readers." Well, that message was the opposite of good.

"So that's why we're here." The Doctor said to himself. "Any other messages, same date stamp?" He asked the node.

"One additional message. This message carries a Felman Lux coherency warning of five zero eleven-"

"Yeah, yeah, fine, fine, fine. Just play it." The Doctor said, cutting the node off.

"Message follows. Count the shadows. For God's sake, remember, if you want to live, count the shadows. Message ends."

"Donna?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Stay out of the shadows." I told her, looking at the ground around us. We were in a well lit area, but something in the pit of my stomach told me it wasn't going to last.

"Why, what's in the shadows?" She asked, asking yet another questioned that would go unanswered by me and the Doctor.

***

"So, we weren't just in the neighbourhood." Donna said as we walked around, trying to find more information while staying out of the shadows.

"Yeah, I kind of, sort of lied a bit." The Doctor said.

"No, really?" I asked him sarcastically, a tad bit annoyed that I was kept in the dark as to why we were here.

"I got a message on the psychic paper." He explained, showing me and Donna the paper.

'The library come as soon as you can. X'

"What do you think? Cry for help?" The Doctor asked.

"Cry for help with a kiss?"

"Oh, we've all done that." The Doctor said, sending me a smirk.

"Who's it from?" Donna asked.

"No idea."

"So why did we come here? Why did you-"

"Donna." I said, stopping her and taking her hand in mine. The lights behind her started to go out, she turned around and saw this too.

"What's happening?" She asked, more and more lights started to go out.

"Run!" Me and the Doctor yelled, tugging Donna along as we ran towards the nearest door. I tried the handle to find it was stuck. I fumbled with my sonic to get the door open as the lights continued to go off, but it didn't work either. The door must have gotten jammed.

"Come on." I groaned, my hearts beating fast.

"What, is it locked?" Donna asked

"Jammed. The wood's warped." I told her.

"Well why didn't the sonic thingy work?" She exclaimed.

"I can't, it's wood." I explained quickly.

"What, it doesn't do wood?" She exclaimed.

"Hang on, hang on. I can vibrate the molecules, fry the bindings. I can shatterline the interface."

"Oh, get out of the way." Donna said, pushing me away from the door so she could kick it in.

Luckily for us, there was light in this room. There was a small metal globe floating in the middle, a security camera.

"Oh. Hello. Sorry to burst on you like this. Okay if we stop here for a bit?" I asked the globe. All of a sudden it fell to the ground with a clang.

"What is it?" Donna asked.

"Security camera." The Doctor explained. "Switched itself off."

***

"Nice door skills, Donna." The Doctor said, trying to use his sonic on the security camera.

"Yeah, well, you know, boyfriends. Sometimes you need the element of surprise." She said. "What was that? What was after us? I mean, did we just run away from a power cut she asked us.

"Possibly." Me and the Doctor said together.

"Are we safe here?"

"Of course we're safe. There's a little shop." The Doctor said with a grin, pointing to the shop entrance sign on the wall behind us. "Gotcha!" He exclaimed once he got into the security camera. A small panel had turned on, and the words of someone try to figure out why we were in their library scrolled on the small screen. It was alive.

"Ooo, I'm sorry. I really am. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I said, looking at the small thing. "It's alive."

"You said it was a security camera." Donna said, not sure what I was talking about.

"It is. It's an alive one." The Doctor said in shock.

'Others are coming.' Popped up on the screen. "The library is breached. Others are coming."

"Others? What's it mean, others?" Donna asked aloud, going to one of the Nodes in the room. "Excuse me. What does it mean, others?" Donna asked it.

"That's barely more than a speak your weight machine, it can't help you." The Doctor told her.

"So why's it got a face?" Donna asked.

"This flesh aspect was donated by Mark Chambers on the occasion of his death." The Node told her.

"It's a real face?" She exclaimed.

"It has been actualised individually for you from the many facial aspects saved to our extensive flesh banks. Please enjoy." The Node told her.

"It chose me a dead face it thought I'd like? That statue's got a real dead person's face on it." Donna said, her voice rising an octave or two.

"It's the fifty first century. That's basically like donating a park bench." The Doctor explained to Donna.

"It's donating a face!"

"No, wait, no." The Doctor said, grabbing Donna and pulling her away from a shadow on the ground.

"Oi. Hands."

"The shadow. Look." I told her, pointing to the odd shadow on the ground.

"What about it?"

"Count the shadows." Me and the Doctor said together, looking around the room for the cause of the shadow.

"One. There, counted it. One shadow." She said.

"Yeah But what's casting it?" I pointed out, still looking around the room for something that could cast the shadow.

"Oh, I'm thick!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Look at me, I'm old and thick. Head's too full of stuff. I need a bigger head."

"Oh don't worry, you'll get that in time." I said under my breath, thinking about the Eleventh Doctor.

All of a sudden the light went out in a corridor connected to the room we were in. "The power must be going." Donna said.

"This place runs on fission cells. They'll outburn the sun." I told her.

"Then why is it dark?" She questioned.

"It's not dark." The Doctor said as we both tried to figure out what was happening in this library.

"That shadow. It's gone." Donna said. Me and the Doctor both looked at where the odd shadow once was to see that it, indeed, was gone.

"We need to get back to the TARDIS." I said after a moment, breaking the deadly silence that filled the room.

"Why?" Donna asked.

"Because that shadow hasn't gone. It's moved." The Doctor said.

"Reminder." The Node said. "The library has been breached. Others are coming. Reminder. The library has been breached. Others are coming. Reminder. The library has been breached-"

All of a sudden a door blew open in a flash of bright light, and six spacesuited figures entered from it. The leader adjusts her polarising filter so her face was able to be seen from where we were standing. She looked at us with her steely gray eyes, causing something from within me to stir, almost like I had met this person before.

"Hello, sweeties." The woman said, giving me and the Doctor a grin.

"Get out." Me and the Doctor said, not wanting to be responsible for anyone else's possible death. We were already putting ourselves and Donna at risk, we didn't need to add six other people to the list.

"Doctor. Ester." Donna said, not able to get anymore thoughts out before the Doctor started talking to the crew.

"All of you. Turn around, get back in your rocket and fly away. Tell your grandchildren you came to the library and lived. They won't believe you." He told them.

"Pop your helmets, everyone. We've got breathers." The woman said, ignoring what me and the Doctor said.

"How do you know they're not androids?" A second woman asked once she took off her helmet.

"Because I've dated androids. They're rubbish." The first woman said as she took off her helmet, letting her mass of curly hair flow more freely.

"Who is this?" A man said, looking at me, Donna and the Doctor. "You said we were the only expedition. I paid for exclusives."

"I lied, I'm always lying. Bound to be others." The woman said.

"Miss Evangelista, I want to see the contracts." The man said to a timid looking woman.

"You came through the north door, yeah? How was   
that, much damage?" The first woman asked us.

"Please, just leave." I told her. "We're asking you seriously and properly, just leave. Hang on. Did you say expedition?" I asked.

"My expedition. I funded it." The man said.

"Oh, you're not, are you? Tell me you're not archaeologists." The Doctor said, a distasteful look on his face as I scrunched up my nose.

"Got a problem with archaeologists?" The woman asked us.

"We're time travellers. We point and laugh at archaeologists." I told her with a smirk.

"Ah. Professor River Song, archaeologist." She said, extending a hand that neither me or the Doctor accepted.

"River Song, lovely name." I said.

"Very." The Doctor agreed. "As you're leaving, and you're leaving now, you need to set up a quarantine beacon. Code wall the planet, the whole planet. Nobody comes here, not ever again. Not one living thing, not here, not ever." He said before turning to the second woman who was about to walk into a dark area of the room. "Stop right there. What's your name?" He asked her.

"Anita." Anita told us.

"Anita, stay out of the shadows. Not a foot, not a finger in the shadows till you're safely back in your ship." I told her. "Goes for all of you. Stay in the light. Find a nice, bright spot and just stand. If you understand me, look very, very scared." I said, not getting much of a reaction form any of them. "No, bit more scared than that. Okay, do for now. You. Who are you?" I asked a second man, one that hadn't said anything yet.

"Er, Dave." He said.

"Okay, Dave."

"Oh, well, Other Dave, because that's Proper Dave the pilot, he was the first Dave, so when we-"

"Other Dave, the way you came, does it look the same as before?" The Doctor asked, cutting Other Dave off.

"Yeah. Oh, it's a bit darker." Other Dave observed.

"How much darker?" I asked him.

"Oh, like I could see where we came through just like a moment ago. I can't now." He said.

"Seal up this door. We'll find another way out." I told Dave, knowing that if we tried to exit through there we would all be dead as soon as we took one step out of the room.

"Would you-" Other Dave said, only to get cut off by the first man, the only man in the crew not named Dave.

"We're not looking for a way out. Miss Evangelista?" The man said, calling for the timid girl.

"I'm Mister Lux's personal everything." The timid girl, Miss. Evangelista told me, Donna and the Doctor. "You need to sign these contracts agreeing that your individual experience inside the library are the intellectual property of the Felman Lux Corporation." She said, holding some papers in her hand.

"Right, give it here." The Doctor said.

"Sure, why not." I said, going along with him.

"Yeah, lovely. Thanks." Donna said, accepting a contract as well. Once the three of us had one, we ripped them into a few pieces, letting the shreds of paper fall to the ground.

"My family built this library. I have rights." The man, Mr. Lux, said, outraged.

"You have a mouth that won't stop." River Song told him before turning to us. "You think there's danger here?"

"Something came to this library and killed everything in it. Killed a whole world. Danger? Could be." I told her.

"That was a hundred years ago. The Library's been silent for a hundred years. Whatever came here's long dead." River said.

"Bet your life?" Me and the Doctor asked her.

"Always." She said, grinning at us. The amount of trust she had for us made me think that she had met us before. It must have been earlier in the Doctor's time stream and later in my own.

"What are you doing?" Lux asked other Dave who was pushing a bookcase up against the doors they came in through.

"They said seal the door." Other Dave said.

"Torch." The Doctor said, asking for one.

"You're taking orders from those two?" Lux asked Other Dave.

"Spooky, isn't it?" I ask Lux, plucking his torch right out of his and and passing it to the Doctor.

Once he had the torch, the Doctor turned it on and pointed it so it lit up the dark areas of the room. "Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark. But they're wrong, because it's not irrational. It's Vashta Nerada." He said.

"What's Vashta Nerada?" Donna asked.

"It's what's in the dark. It's what's always in the dark." I told Donna. "Lights! That's what we need, lights. You got lights?" I asked River.

"What for?" She asked.

"Form a circle. Safe area. Big as you can, lights pointing out." I told her crew.

"Oi. Do as she says." River told her crew when they didn't do anything.

"You're not listening to this woman?" Lux said in disbelief.

"Apparently I am." River said before turning to the rest of team. "Anita, unpack the lights. Other Dave, make sure the door's secure, then help Anita. Mister Lux, put your helmet back on, block the visor. Proper Dave, find an active terminal. I want you to access the library database. See what you can find about what happened here a hundred years ago. Pretty ones, you're with me. Step into my office." She ordered.

"Professor Song, why am I the only one wearing my helmet?" Lux asked River.

"I don't fancy you." She told him with a smirk.

Me, Donna, and the Doctor went over to Proper Dave at his terminal, knowing that we could be of help to him.

"Pretty ones. With me, I said." River called, looking at me and the Doctor.

"Us?" I asked, wide eyed.

"Oh, we're pretty ones?" The Doctor asked, bot of us looking to Donna for guidence.

"Yes. Ooo, that came out a bit quick." She told us.

"Pretty? Both of us? Really? I mean, Ester, yeah; but me too?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh stop it you." I said, giving him a quick kiss.

"Meh." Donna said.

"Don't let your shadows cross. Seriously, don't even let them touch. Any of them could be infected." The Doctor told the rest of the crew before we went over to River.

We went to the table where River was setting up, taking out a battered, blue journal out of her bag.

"Thanks." She said as she opened the journal, flipping through the ink covered pages.

"For what?" I asked her.

"The usual. For coming when I call." She said, looking up form her journal.

"Oh, that was you?" The Doctor asked.

"You're both doing a very good job, acting like you don't know me. I'm assuming there's a reason." River said, giving us a smirk.

"A fairly good one, actually."

"Okay, shall we do diaries, then?" She said, making my ears perk up, reminding me of what me and the Doctor would do with our own journals each time we met up. "Where are we this time? Er, going by your face, I'd say it's early days for you Doctor, and extremely early for you Ester, yeah? So, er, crash of the Byzantium. Have we done that yet?" She paused looking at our faces; the Doctor sporting a blank one and myself a slightly nervous one, concerned about the similarities between us and the weird connection-like pull towards this woman. "Obviously ringing no bells. Right. Oh, picnic at Asgard. Have we done Asgard yet?" The same reactions form both me and the Doctor. "Obviously not. Blimey, very early days, then. Whoo, life with two time travellers. Never knew it could be such hard work. Look at you two. Oh, you're young."

"We're really not, you know." I laughed, trying to lighten the mood and get my mind off of all that was worrying me.

"No, but you are. Your eyes. The two of you are younger than I've ever seen you." River said.

"You've seen me before, then?" I asked her. "Because I'm not sure if this one forgot to explain or not, but I travel on a different time stream than him. You might have met an older version of me, but this is the first time I've ever seen you." I told her, watching as she physically deflated.

"Doctor, please tell me you know who I am." River begged, seeming as if she might break down at any moment.

"Who are you?" He asked her. River looked broken. Before she could say anything, the sound of a phone ringing filled the large room. We turned to look at Proper Dave.

"Sorry, that was me." He said. "Trying to get through into the security protocols. I seem to have set something off. What is that? Is that an alarm?" He asked.

"Doctor? Ester, that sounds like-"

"It is. It's a phone." I told Donna.

"I'm trying to call up the data core, but it's not responding. Just that noise." Proper Dave told us.

"But it's a phone." Donna said.

"Let me try something." The Doctor said, going to the terminal to try and hack into it, only to get an Access Denied message. "Okay, doesn't like that. Let's try something else." He said before typing another few lines of code. As soon as the Doctor sent the code to the computer, it showed an image of a young girl kneeling at a coffee table, drawing on a piece of paper with some pencils. "Okay, here it comes." He said, adjusting the levels so we could hear what was coming from the live feed. "Hello?" He asked, getting the attention of the young girl.

"Hello. Are you in my television?" The girl questioned, looking at us through the screen.

"Well, no, I'm, I'm sort of in space." He told the girl. Er, I was trying to call up the data core of a triple grid security processor." The girl just blinked in response.

"Would you like to speak to my Dad?" She asked after a moment.

"Dad or your Mum. That'd be lovely." The Doctor said with a grin.

"I know you. You're in my library." The girl said with wide eyes.

"Your library?"

"The library's never been on the television before. What have you done?" The girl yelled, looking terrified.

"Er, well, I just rerouted the interface." He explained before the terminal crashed.

"What happened? Who was that?" River asked.

"I need another terminal." The Doctor said before turning to the crew. "Keep working on those lights. We need those lights!"

"You heard him, people. Let there be light." River said. The Doctor grabbed my hand and took me to the terminal where River had placed her journal. He picked up her journal, but Ricer had it back in her hands before the Doctor could open it.

"Sorry, you're not allowed to see inside the book. It's against the rules." She said.

"What rules?" Me and the Doctor asked together.

"Your rules." River said. "The two of you should know them better than anyone else." She told us, causing a sick feeling to come about in my stomach.

Suddenly, books started flying off their shelves. A rather large one came flying towards the back of the Doctor's head and I grabbed his arm tight, pulling him down to the ground with me. The book continued to fly through the air, landing a few feet in front of us.

"What's that? We didn't do that." The Doctor said. "Did you do that?" He asked Dave, getting off the ground before helping me up as well.

"Not me." Dave said as we went over to his terminal. The screen was showing an error reading 'Cal Access Denied.'

"What's Cal?" I asked before more books started flying off their shelves.

"What's causing that? Is it the little girl?" River asked as she came up behind us to look at the terminal screen as well.

"But who is the little girl? What's she got to do with this place? How does the data core work? What's the principle? What's Cal?" I rambled, asking only a few of the questions that flooded my mind; excluding those about River Song and her similarities to myself. The Doctor took my hand in his, trying to comfort me.

"Ask Mister Lux."

"Cal, what is it?" I asked Lux, who had stayed silent up until that point.

"Sorry, you didn't sign your personal experience contracts." He said, causing my blood to go hot.

"Mister Lux. Right now, you're in more danger than you've ever been in your whole life." I told the man, trying to show him the urgency of the situation. "And you're protecting a patent?"

"I'm protecting my family's pride." He reasoned.

"Well, funny thing,   
Mister Lux. I don't want to see everyone in this room dead because some idiot thinks his pride is more important." I told him.

"Then why don't you sign his contract?" River asked. "I didn't either. I'm getting worse than you two." She said to herself, shaking her head with a small smile.

"Okay, okay, okay. Let's start at the beginning." I said. "What happened here? On the actual day, a hundred years ago, what physically happened?" I asked River.

"There was a message from the Library. Just one. The lights are going out. Then the computer sealed the planet, and there was nothing for a hundred years." River explained.

"It's taken three generations of my family just to decode the seals and get back in." Lux added.

"Er, excuse me?" Miss. Evangelista said from across the room.

"Not just now." Lux said, dismissing the girl.

"There was one other thing in the last message." River started.

"That's confidential." Lux protested.

"I trust these two with my life, with everything." River said.

"You've only just met them." Lux countered.

"No, they've only just met me." River corrected

"Er, this might be important, actually." Miss Evangelista called.

"In a moment." Lux returned.

"This is a data extract that came with the message." River said, showing me and the Doctor a message displayed on the terminal.

"Four thousand and twenty two saved. No survivors." The Doctor read.

"Four thousand and twenty two. That's the exact number of people who were in the library when the planet was sealed." River told us.

"But how can four thousand and twenty two people have been saved if there were no survivors?" Donna asked, voicing my thoughts.

"That's what we're here to find out." River said.

"And so far, what we haven't found are any bodies." Lux said, just before an ear-shattering scream rang through the air. We ran out of the room towards the sound of the scream, but when we got to the source, all we found was a skeleton and what looked like to be the shredded remains of a space suit.

"Everybody, careful. Stay in the light." The Doctor said as me and him went to look at the skeleton.

"You keep saying that. I don't see the point." Proper Dave told us.

"Who screamed?" I asked.

"Miss Evangelista." Dave said.

"Where is she?" I asked Dave.

"Miss Evangelista, please state your current-" River said into her comm-unit before it repeated from the comm-unit around the skeleton's neck. "Please state your current position." She said again, only to get the same response come form the second comm-unit with it's lights still on. "It's her. It's Miss Evangelista." River realized.

"We heard her scream a few seconds ago. What could do that to a person in a few seconds?" Anita asked, looking like she might be sick.

"It took a lot less than a few seconds." The Doctor said solemnly.

"What did?" Anita asked.

"Hello?" Miss Evangelista's voice said, coming form the still-lit-comm-unit around the neck of her remains.

"Er, I'm sorry, everyone." River said. "Er, this isn't going to be pleasant. She's ghosting."

"She's what?" Donna asked.

"Hello? Excuse me. I'm sorry. Hello? Excuse me." The dead girl said.

"That's, that's her, that's Miss Evangelista." Donna said wide-eyed, not understanding how a dead body could be working a comm-unit.

"I don't want to sound horrible, but couldn't we just, you know?" Proper Dave asked, suggesting that we shut off the girl's unit.

"This is her last moment." River said, speaking my words before I could even open my mouth. "No, we can't. A little respect, thank you."

"Sorry, where am I? Excuse me?" Miss Evangelista asked.

"But that's Miss Evangelista." Donna said.

"It's a data ghost. She'll be gone in a moment." River said before speaking into her own comm-unit to the girl. "Miss Evangelista, you're fine. Just relax. We'll be with you presently." She told her.

"What's a data ghost?" Donna asked.

"There's a neural relay in the communicator." I explained to Donna. "Lets you send thought mail. That's it there. Those green lights. Sometimes it can hold an impression of a living consciousness for a short time after death. Like an afterimage."

"My grandfather lasted a day. Kept talking about his shoelaces." Anita said, smiling fondly at the memory.

"She's in there." Donna said, processing the new information set in front of her.

"I can't see. I can't. Where am I?" The dead girl asked.

"She's just brain waves now. The pattern won't hold for long." Proper Dave said.

"But, she's conscious. She's thinking." Donna argued.

"I can't see, I can't. I don't know what I'm thinking."

"She's a footprint on the beach. And the tide's coming in." The Doctor said. I took his hand in mine and gave it a squeeze, getting one in return from him.

"Where's that woman? The nice woman. Is she there?" Miss Evangelista asked.

"What woman?" Lux asked.

"She means. I think she means me." Donna said.

"Is she there? The nice woman."

"Yes, she's here. Hang on." River said into her comm-unit before handing it to Donna. "Go ahead. She can hear you."

"Hello? Are you there?" The girl asked. Donna just stared at River's comm-unit in her hand.

"Help her." I told Donna, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"She's dead." Donna said, meeting my eyes with her own sad eyes.

"Yeah. Help her." I told her.

"Hello? Is that the nice woman?"

"Yeah." Donna said. "Hello. Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm here. You okay?" She asked the dead girl.

"What I said before, about being stupid. Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh." Miss Evangelista said.

"Course I won't." Donna said, shutting her eyes tight. "Course I won't tell them."

"Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh."

"I won't tell them. I said I won't." Donna repeated.

"Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh."

"I'm not going to tell them." Donna said as the green light on the Miss Evangelista's comm-unit started blinking, signaling that the connection was running thin. "Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh."

"She's looping now. The pattern's degrading." River said.

"I can't think. I don't know, I, I, I, I scream. Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream." Came from the comm-unit. I buried my face in the Doctor's shoulder.

"Does anybody mind if I?" River asked, going to turn off the comm-unit that was just slowly breaking everyone down.

"Ice cream. Ice cream." Were the final words of Miss Evangelista once River switched the comm-unit off, silencing the girl for one last time.

"That was, that was horrible. That was the most horrible thing I've ever seen." Donna said, and I couldn't help but agree. Death was always a horrific thing, and to have it so prolonged...

"No. It's just a freak of technology." River said. "But whatever did this to her, whatever killed her, I'd like a word with that."

"We'll introduce you." The Doctor said, taking my hand in his, holding it tight.   
  


***  
  


"I'm going to need a packed lunch." The Doctor said once we had gotten back to the room with all of the supplies River's team had brought.

"Hang on." River said, going through her bag in serve of a lunch.

"What's in that book?" I asked River.

"Spoilers." She said.

"Who are you?" The Doctor asked.

"Professor River Song, University of-"

"To us." I said, cutting her off. "Who are you to us? River Song, the woman with so many connections and unanswered questions. Who is she?"

"Again, spoilers." She said with a smile before tossing a package to the Doctor. "Chicken and a bit of salad. Knock yourself out."

"Right, you lot. Let's all meet the Vashta Nerada." The Doctor said. 

***

"You travel with them, don't you?" I overheard River ask Donna as the Doctor scanned the ground with his sonic. I sat near him, giving him space to work but still being close enough to be of help if need be. "Ester and the Doctor, you travel with them."

"What of it?" Donna asked.

"Proper Dave, could you move over a bit?" The Doctor asked, when Proper Dave got a little too close to his work area.

"Why?" Proper Dave asked.

"Over there by the water cooler. Thanks." I said, pointing to the water cooler across the room.

"You know them, don't you?" I heard Donna ask River.

"Oh God, do I know that man and woman. We go way back, those two and me." River said before sighing. "Just not this far back."

"I'm sorry, what?" Donna asked.

"They haven't met me yet. I sent them a message, but it went wrong. It arrived too early. This is the Doctor and Ester in the days before they knew me. And they look at me, they looks right through me and it shouldn't kill me, but it does." River said in a tone that caused my hearts to grow heavy. 

"What are you talking about? Are you just talking rubbish? Do you know them or don't you?" Donna exclaimed.

"Donna!" The Doctor yelled. "Quiet, I'm working."

"Sorry." Donna said.

"Donna. You're Donna. Donna Noble." River said, sounding like she just realized who she was talking to.

"Yeah. Why?" She asked.

"I do know Ester andthe Doctor, but in the future. Their personal futures."

"So why don't you know me? Where am I in the future?" Donna asked, asking the one question that all of the people who have ever traveled with us inevitably asked. 

"Okay, got a live one." The Doctor said, catching my attention as well as the others, who looked over towards us. "That's not darkness down those tunnels. This is not a shadow. It's a swarm. A man eating swarm." The Doctor said. He took at chicken leg out of the package of food River had gave him and threw it into the darkness. By the time it had hit the ground, the meat had disappeared, leaving only the bone to hit the ground.

"The piranhas of the air." I said. "The Vashta Nerada. Literally, the shadows that melt the flesh. Most planets have them, but usually in small clusters. I've never seen an infestation on this scale, or this aggressive." I said in awe.

"What do you mean, most planets? Not Earth?" Donna asked.

"Oh yeah. Earth, and a billion other worlds. Where there's meat, there's Vashta Nerada. You can see them sometimes, if you look. The dust in sunbeams." I told her.

"If they were on Earth, we'd know." Donna argued. 

"Nah. Normally they live on road kill. But sometimes people go missing. Not everyone comes back out of the dark." I told Donna.

"Every shadow?" River asked.

"No. But any shadow."

"So what do we do?" She asked.

"Daleks, aim for the eyestalk." I said.

"Sontarans, back of the neck." The Doctor added. "Vashta Nerada?"

"Run. Just run." I said, meeting River's eyes.

"Run? Run where?" River asked.

"This is an index point. There must be an exit teleport somewhere." The Doctor reasoned, looking towards Lux to see if there was, in fact, an exit teleport.

"Don't look at me, I haven't memorised the schematics." Lux said.

"Doctor, the little shop." Donna said. "They always make you go through the little shop on the way out so they can sell you stuff." She said, making my face lit up with a grin.

"You're right. Brilliant! That's why I like the little shop." The Doctor said with a large grin.

"Donna Noble you are brilliant!" I exclaimed.

"Okay, let's move it." Proper Dave said, walking towards the shop. As he did so, something caught mine and the Doctor's eyes.

"Actually, Proper Dave? Could you stay where you are for a moment?" I asked him, looking at the ground where his shadow was cast.

"Why?" He asked, looking towards us.

"I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. But you've got two shadows." The Doctor told the, now terrified looking, man.

"It's how they hunt. They latch on to a food source and keep it fresh." I said.

"What do I do?" Proper Dave asked, responding much better than most people would if they were in his position.

"You stay absolutely still, like there's a wasp in the room. Like there's a million wasps." The Doctor told him.

"We're not leaving you, Dave." River told Proper Dave, trying to reassure him.

"Course we're not leaving him. Where's your helmet?" I asked Proper Dave. "Don't point, just tell me." 

"On the floor, by my bag." Proper Dave said, Anita went to get it for us.

"Don't cross his shadow." I told her as she got rather close to Proper Dave's shadow. She got the helmet form it's place on the ground before bringing it over to where me and the Doctor stood. "Thanks." I said, taking the helmet from her. "Now, the rest of you, helmets back on and sealed up. We'll need everything we've got." I said, walking carefully over to Proper Dave to put his helmet on him.

"But, Ester, we haven't got any helmets." Donna told me once I had finished my task and was back next to Donna and the Doctor.

"Yeah, but we're safe anyway." The Doctor told Donna, giving me a look that assured me that he had a plan to keep her safe.

"How are we safe?" She questioned.

"We're not. That was a clever lie to shut you up." He said. "Professor, anything I can do with the suit?" The Doctor asked River.

"What good are the damn suits?" Lux asked. "Miss Evangelista was wearing her suit. There was nothing left." He argued.

"We can increase the mesh density. Dial it up four hundred percent. Make it a tougher meal." River instructed.

"Okay." The Doctor said, using his sonic to adjust the mesh density on Proper Dave's suit. "Eight hundred percent. Pass it on." He said holding his sonic out for River to take.

"Gotcha." River said, taking out a sonic screwdriver of her own of her pocket. I was identical to the Doctor's. My eyes went wide as I looked at the Doctor, who had a reaction much like my own. 

"What's that?" We asked together.

"It's a screwdriver." River said, looking at the sonic in her hands.

"It's sonic." The Doctor said.

"Yeah, I know. Snap." River said, going around upgrading all of the crew's spacesuits. The Doctor sent me a look, signaling that he wanted to put his 'Keep-Donna-Safe' plan into action.

"With us." I said, grabbing Donna's arm as I tried not to sound as nervous as I felt about everything that was surrounding us. Between River's obvious but unknown connection to me and the Doctor, keeping Donna safe, and trying to overcome a monster we couldn't see and could easily kill any of us in a spilt second, I was very high strung. "Come on."

"What are we doing?" Donna asked as me, her and the Doctor walked into the little shop connected to the room. "We shopping? Is it a good time to shop?" She questioned.

"No talking, just moving." I told her, bring her over to the teleport that was located in the middle of the shop. "Try it. Right, stand there in the middle. It's a teleport. Stand in the middle. Can't send the others, TARDIS won't recognise them." I said as the Doctor worked on the controls to program it to send Donna to the TARDIS.

"What are you doing?" She asked as I went over to the Doctor's side, helping him program the teleport.

"You don't have a suit. You're not safe." I told her.

"You don't have a suit, so you're in just as much danger as I am and I'm not leaving you two." She fought, trying to reason with us. 

"Donna, let us explain." The Doctor said as he hit the teleport button, sending Donna to the TARDIS. "Oh, that's how you do it." He said.

"Doctor." I said, looking up at him. "If I don't make it out of this one, just know I love you, okay?" I told him, my hearts beating out of my chest as I looked into the beautiful brown eyes of his that quickly filled with worry and hurt.

"Don't talk like that." He said, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close to his thin frame. "We'll both make it out of this, I promise."

"I'm so nervous. Everything about today... It all feels like too much to take in, like everything is just clouding up my mind and causing me to be off or something." I told him, resting my forehead on his chest, breathing in the sent of him to try and calm my nerves.

"Hey, look at me." He said softly, I did as he asked. "I got you. We'll figure all of this out. We just need to take one step at a time and we'll both get through this one step at a time." He said. I placed my hands on either side of his face before I brought my lips to his in a deep kiss that felt like it could have caused suns to implode.   

"Doctor. Ester." River called from the main room outside of the little shop. We broke apart with a sigh; both of us knowing that we would have to go back to living our lives.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

***  
  


"Where did it go?" The Doctor asked as we came out of the shop, him clutching my hand like he never wanted to let go of it, me happy that he was doing so.

"It's just gone. I looked round, one shadow, see." Proper Dave said as we looked at the ground to see that his second shadow had indeed, disappeared.

"Does that mean we can leave?" River asked. "I don't want to hang around here."

"I don't know why we're still here. We can leave him, can't we? I mean, no offence." Lux said.

"Shut up, Mister Lux." Me and River said at the same time. River looked at me and I gave her a small smile in return, causing her face to light up.

"Did you feel anything, like an energy transfer? Anything at all?" The Doctor asked Proper Dave.

"No, no, but look, it's gone." He said, turning around.

"Stop there. Stop, stop, stop there. Stop moving. They're never just gone and they never give up." I told Proper Dave as the Doctor scanned the ground around Dave with his sonic.

"Well, this one's benign." The Doctor said.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" Proper Dave asked.

"No one, they're fine." I told him.

"No seriously, turn them back on." He said.

"They are on." River said, chiming in.

"I can't see a ruddy thing."

"Dave, turn around. Towards us." The Doctor told him. Proper Dave did as he was told and showed us that the visor on his helmet had gone completely black.

"What's going on? Why can't I see? Is the power gone? Are we safe here?" Proper Dave asked, getting more worried by the second.

"Dave, I want you stay still. Absolutely still." I told him. Proper Dave responding with a jerk.

"Dave? Dave? Dave, can you hear me? Are you all right? Talk to me, Dave." The Doctor said, trying to see if Proper Dave was okay or not.

"I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm fine." Proper Dave repeated.

"I want you to stay still. Absolutely still." The Doctor said.

"I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm fine. I can't. Why can't I? I, I can't. Why can't I? I, I can't. Why can't I? I-" Proper Dave said, the green lights on his comm-unit blinking.

"He's gone. He's ghosting." River said.

"Then why is he still standing?" Lux asked.

"Hey, who turned out the lights? Hey, who turned out the lights?" Dave said as the Doctor and I walked close to Proper Dave.

"Ester, Doctor, don't." River warned as we walked closer to him.

"Dave, can you hear me?" The Doctor asked slowly.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" Proper Dave repeated as whatever was keeping his body upright shot his arms out and grabbed both me and the Doctor by our throats. "Who turned out the lights? Hey, who turned out the lights?" He repeated as I gripped on to his wrist, trying to get his hand off of my throat so I could help the Doctor, but the only thing that resulted was having fingers pressed more tightly around my throat.

"Excuse me." I heard River say, followed by the sound of a sonic screwdriver and the hands were gone from both mine and the Doctor's necks as the zombie fell to the ground.

"Back from it! Get back. Right back!" The Doctor yelled as he pushed me behind himself as the zombie got back on his feet and got closer to us.

"Doesn't move very fast, does it?" River asked, seeing how slow the creature was.

"It's a swarm in a suit. But it's learning." The Doctor said as I tried to steady my breathing. I looked at the zombie's feet to see four shadows reaching out from it, all four of them growing with an impressive speed.

"What do we do? Where do we go?" Lux asked frantically.

"See that wall behind you? Duck." River said, taking a gun out of her bag and firing it at the wall behind Lux; the beam left a square hole in the wall big enough for us to escape from.

"Squareness gun!"  
  


"Everybody out. Go, go, go. Move it. Move, move. Move it. Move, move." River shouted. The entire crew did as she said, but the Doctor just stood, looking at the swarm in the suit with what seemed like awe.

"Oh come on." I said, grabbing a hold of his arm and pulled him away and out of the room with me.

***

"You said not every shadow." River said.

"But any shadow." Me and the Doctor said at the same time.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" Proper Dave's voice rang from a hallway near us. He was getting closer.

"Run!"

***  
  
  


"Trying to boost the power. Light doesn't stop them, but it slows them down." The Doctor said when River asked what he was doing with the light fixture he was sonicing.

"So, what's the plan?" River asked, looking between me and the Doctor, getting now response from either one of us for a moment. "Do we have a plan?"

"Your screwdriver looks exactly like mine." The Doctor said, looking at the sonic in River's hand.

"Yeah. You gave it to me." She said, causing my eyes to widen.

"I don't give my screwdriver to anyone." The Doctor said.

"I'm not anyone." She answered with a smirk.

"Who are you?" Me and Doctor asked at the same time.

"What's the plan?" She countered, causing me to let out an exasperated sigh.

"We teleported Donna back to the TARDIS. If we don't get back there in under five hours, emergency program one will activate." I told her.

"Take her home, yeah. We need to get a shift on."

"She's not there. We should have received a signal. The console signals us if there's a teleport breach." The Doctor explained.

"Well, maybe the coordinates have slipped. The equipment here's ancient." River reasoned. I saw a Node and walked to it, wanting to see if it could  give me any information.

"Donna Noble. There's a Donna Noble somewhere in this library. Do you have the software to locate her position?" I asked the Node. It turned around and my hearts stopped. The Node had Donna's face.

"Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved."

"Donna." The Doctor said, at my side with his arms wrapped around me from behind me, pulling my back close to his front.

My hearts felt like they were made of lead. We had lost her. We had lost another one. Another beautiful person.

"Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved."

"How can it be Donna? How's that possible?" I heard Ricer ask.

"Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved." Each time it was repeated my mind wanted to completely shut down even more.

"Donna." The Doctor whispered in a broken tone.

"Donna Noble has left the library."

"Hey, who turned out the lights?"

"Doctor! Ester!" River yelled, but we just stood there, standing together and staring at Donna's face on the Node.

"Donna Noble has been saved."

"Hey, who turned out the lights?"

"Donna Noble has left the library."

"Ester, Doctor, we've got to go now!" River said, pulling the Doctor, who in turn pulled me as well.

"Donna Noble has been saved."

"Hey, Who turned out the lights?"

We ran through the library as the words of the lifeless creatures echoed through the entire library. 

"Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved."

"Hey, who turned out the lights?"

"Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved."

"Hey, who turned out the lights?"

"Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved."

"Hey, who turned out the lights?"

"Donna Noble has left the library."

And then we could run no more. We were trapped between the creatures and the shadows. The end looked bleak, but all o felt was numb aside from where the Doctor's were on my body.

"Ester, Doctor, what are we going to do?" River exclaimed.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?"

"Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved."


	26. Forest of the Night

"Hey, who turned out the lights? Hey, who turned out the lights?" Zombie Dave said, walking closer to the corner where we all stood. I stood by the Doctor's side, holding on to his hand as if it were a lifeline. River used her squareness gun on the wall behind us, giving us all an escape from the carnivorous zombie.   
  
"This way, quickly. Move!" River said as we went into the new safe haven that was the next well-lit room.   
  
"Hey, who turned out the lights?" The zombie said as we ran through the entrance.   
  
"OK, we've got a clear spot. In, in, in! Right in the centre. In the middle of the light, quickly." River said. "Don't let your shadows cross. Doctor, Ester."   
  
"We're doing it." We said as we started scanning for the Vashta Nerada in a dark corner of the room. We both tried scanning with our own screwdrivers, but both of them kept shorting out.   
  
"There's no lights here. Sunset's coming. We can't stay long. Have you found a live one?" River asked us.   
  
"Maybe. It's getting harder to tell." I said before hitting my sonic with the palm of my hand. "What's wrong with you?"   
  
"We're going to need a chicken leg. Who's got a chicken leg?" Other Dave handed River a lunch pack. "Thanks, Dave." She then walked over to where me and the Doctor kneeled on the ground and tossed the chicken leg into the shadows; the meat was stripped from the bone before it hit the ground. "Okay. Okay, we've got a hot one. Watch your feet."   
  
"They won't attack until there's enough of them. But they've got our scent now. They're coming." The Doctor said. River went to sit with her crew   
  
"Oh, yeah, who are they?" I overheard Other Dave ask River as me and the Doctor worked. "You haven't even told us. You just expect us to trust them?"   
  
"They're the Doctor and Ester." River responded as if it were the simplest thing in the world.   
  
"And who are the Doctor and Ester?" Lux asked River as I scanned the area around us with my sonic, checking for a signal that might show us where Donna was.   
  
"The only story you'll ever tell, if you survive the two of them." River told Lux.   
  
"You say they're your friends, but they don't even know who you are."   
  
"Listen, all you need to know is this. I'd trust that man and that woman to the end of the universe. And actually, we've been." River told what was left of her crew.   
  
"They doesn't act like they trust you." Anita said. I watched the Doctor mess with some wires connected to a computer.   
  
"Yeah, there's a tiny problem. They haven't met me yet. Neither one of them." River sighed, before standing up and coming over to where I was scanning some shadows.   
  
"What's wrong with it?" River asked me.   
  
"There's a signal coming from somewhere, I'm interfering with it." I told her.   
  
"Then use the red settings." River said, pointing to my sonic.   
  
"It doesn't have a red setting." Me and the Doctor said together.   
  
"Well, use the dampers."   
  
"It doesn't have dampers."   
  
"It will do one day." River said, handing out her own sonic that looked like the Doctor's one that he held in his own hand.   
  
"So, some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver." The Doctor said with a tone of disbelief.   
  
"Yeah." River said, scanning around us.   
  
"Why would I do that? I mean, I would understand if I were to give it to Ester-"   
  
"I didn't pluck it from your cold dead hands, if that's what you're worried about." River said, cutting him off mid sentence. "And that goes for either one of you." River said, looking at me.   
  
"And we know that because?" We asked together.   
  
"Listen to me. You've lost your friend. You're angry. I understand. But you need to be less emotional, Doctor, Ester, right now." River said.   
  
"Less emotional? I'm not emotional." The Doctor said, causing me to scoff at him.   
  
"At least I've accepted that I'm not very stable right now." I said, causing River to let out a sigh.   
  
"There are six people in this room still alive. Focus on that." River told us. "Dear God, you're hard work young."   
  
"Young? Who are you?" Me and the Doctor both yelled.   
  
"Oh, for heaven's sake! Look at the three of you. We're all going to die right here, and you're just squabbling like a teenager and her parents!" Lux exclaimed from where he sat on the floor with the rest of River's team.   
  
"Look, one day I'm going to be someone that you two trust completely, but I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you. And I'm sorry. I'm really very sorry." River said before walking to me, bring her mouth to my ear and whispering a name I have heard in the longest time. One I hadn't even thought of since I was back on Gallifrey. "Saladar." She said, the syllables flowing off of her tongue. River Song knew my name; my given name. No one knew that, not the Doctor, not any of my friends, no one. How did she know that?   
  
She brought her head back so I could looking into her eyes and her steel-green eyes met my brown ones, my face showing the shock and confusion that I was feeling.   
  
I must have told her. I'm the only person alive that knew my name. I must have told her.   
  
River then went to the Doctor and whispered into his own ear. His eyes went wide and he looked as shocked as I felt.   
  
"Are we good?" River asked the both of us. "Ester, Doctor, are we good?"   
  
"Yeah, we're good." The Doctor said as I stared at her.   
  
"Ester? Are we good?" River asked again, meeting my eyes.   
  
"Yeah, we are." I told her with a small nod.   
  
"Good." River said, taking her sonic back from the Doctor before she walked back to her crew.   
  
"Know what's interesting about my screwdriver?" The Doctor asked, breaking the silence. "Very hard to interfere with. Practically nothing's strong enough. Well, Ester's hair dryer, but I'm working on that." He said, causing me to smirk. "So there is a very strong signal coming from somewhere, and it wasn't there before. So what's new? What's changed? Come on! What's new? What's different?" He asked, looking towards the crew.   
  
"I don't know. Nothing. It's getting dark?" Other Dave said.   
  
"It's a screwdriver. It works in the dark." I told him.   
  
"Moonrise. Tell me about the moon. What's there?" The Doctor asked Lux, going down the line of River's crew.   
  
"It's not real. It was built as part of the Library. It's just a Doctor Moon." Lux said.   
  
"What's a Doctor Moon?" I asked him, never having heard the term before.   
  
"A virus checker. It supports and maintains the main computer at the core of the planet." He explained.   
  
"Well, still active." I said, looking at the moon from the circular window on the ceiling above us. "It's signalling. Look. Someone somewhere in this library is alive and communicating with the moon." I said.   
  
"Or, possibly alive and drying their hair." The Doctor said from his place at a computer interface, trying to mess with the signal. "No, the signal is definitely coming from the moon. I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through." He said.   
  
All of a sudden, an image of Donna appeared out of thin air; most likely caused by something the Doctor did to the computer he was messing with.   
  
"Doctor!" Me and River exclaimed together, causing him to look up from the computer. My hearts felt like they were going to beat out of my chest.   
  
"Donna!" He exclaimed, his voice sounding the most like his own since she had disappeared; and that alone lifted my own spirits. He's been through too much, he's had to do too much by himself. He deserves to be happy.   
  
The image of Donna lasted another few seconds before it disappeared.   
  
"That was her." River said after a moment. "That was your friend! Can you get her back? What was that?" I rushed to the Doctor's side, wanting to help him in anyway I could.   
  
"Hold on, hold on, hold on." He said, typing lines of code at a breakneck speed. "I'm trying to find the wavelength." All that came up on the screen was an error message. "Argh, I'm being blocked."   
  
"Professor?" Anita said, her voice slightly higher than average.   
  
"Just a moment." River said, still looking at the screen.   
  
"It's important." Anita said. "I have two shadows." We all looked up towards her. I grouped for the Doctor's hand, squeezing it tight when I found it.   
  
"Okay." River said, breaking the deadly silence in the room after a moment. "Helmets on, everyone. Anita, I'll get yours." River said, going across the room for her helmet.   
  
"It didn't do Proper Dave any good." Anita said.   
  
"Just keep it together, okay?" River said, picking up the helmet and walking cautiously towards Anita.   
  
"Keeping it together. I'm only crying." Anita said. "I'm about to die. It's not an overreaction." She argued as River put her helmet on her, covering the girl's face with the clear visor in the process.   
  
"Hang on." The Doctor said, walking over to her with his sonic in one hand and my hand in the other. He soniced her helmet and the clear visor went completely black.   
  
"Oh God, they've got inside." River gasped.   
  
"No, no, no. I just tinted her visor." He explained, pocketing his sonic. "Maybe they'll think they're already in there, leave her alone."   
  
"Do you think they can be fooled like that?" River asked.   
  
"Maybe." I said when the Doctor looked towards me. Back all of those years when we had been in the Academy together, I was the one who had always paid better attention to the classes about carnivores space fish; The Doctor had found the class dull and spent more attention on the random pen scratches that covered his notes. "I don't know. It's a swarm." The doctor shot me a look. "It's not like we chat!" I told him, he responded by placing a light kiss on the top of my head and squeezing my hand a little tighter.   
  
"Can you still see in there?" Other Dave asked Anita through his own helmet.   
  
"Just about." Came her response.   
  
"Just, just, just stay back." I told them. Before turning to River. "Professor, a quick word, please." The three of us walked across the room, out of earshot of the rest of her crew.   
  
"What?" River asked.   
  
"Down here." The Doctor said, crouching down, acting like we had something to show her about the wood grain of the floor.   
  
"What is it?" She asked again.   
  
"Look, you said there are five people still alive in this room." I said, my hearts beating faster than normal.   
  
"Yeah, so?" River pressed.   
  
"So, why are there six?"   
  
"Hey, who turned out the lights?" Zombie Dave said, now in the same room as us.   
  
"Run!" Me and the Doctor yelled, each of us increasing our grips on the other's hand.   
  
"Hey, who turned out the lights?"   
  
We ran through the library, running across a high level cat walk that connected the previous skyscraper-library-section- to the next.   
  
"Professor, go ahead. Find a safe spot." The Doctor told River once we rounded another corner.   
  
"It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit. You can't reason with it!" She argued.   
  
"Five minutes." I bargained.    
  
"Other Dave, stay with them." River said. "Pull them out when they're too stupid to live. Two minutes, Ester, Doctor." She said before catching up with the rest of her crew.   
  
Zombie Dave caught up with us a moment later. "Hey, who turned out the lights?"   
  
"You hear that? Those words? That is the very last thought of the man who wore that suit before you climbed inside and stripped his flesh. That's a man's soul trapped inside a neural relay, going round and round forever." The Doctor said to Zombie Dave.   
  
"Now, if you don't have the decency to let him go, how about this? Use him. Talk to us. It's easy. Neural relay. Just point and think. Use him, talk to us." I told the suit.   
  
"Hey, who turned out the lights?"   
  
"The Vashta Nerada live on all the worlds in this system, but you hunt in forests. What are you doing in a library?" I asked as the suit continued to get closer to us, Other Dave took a step back, but me and the Doctor stood our ground, backs straight, ready to face whatever the swarm-in-a-suit had to throw at us.   
  
"We should go. Doctor!" Other Dave said.   
  
"In a minute." He said shortly. "You came to the library to hunt. Why? Just tell us why?" He tried to reason.   
  
"We did not." The suit said slowly, bringing a grin to mine and the Doctor's faces.   
  
"Oh, hello." I said.   
  
"We did not." It sounded strained.   
  
"Take it easy, you'll get the hang of it." I told it, my voice smooth and calm. "Did not what?"   
  
"We did not come here." It said, confusing me.   
  
"Well, of course you did. Of course you came here." The Doctor said, voicing my thoughts.   
  
"We come from here."   
  
"From here?" I questioned.   
  
"We hatched here." It continued.   
  
"But you hatch from trees. From spores in trees." I said.   
  
"These are our forests." The suit said.   
  
"You're nowhere near a forest. Look around you." The Doctor said, motioning to the bookshelves around us. Bookshelves filled with books. Books that are filled with paper. Paper made from- oh.   
  
"These are our forests." The suit repeated as it clicked for me.   
  
"You're not in a forest, you're in a library. There are no trees in a-" And the penny dropped for the Doctor. "-library."   
  
"We should go." Other Dave said, but me and the Doctor just stood in our places, looking at the suit filled with carnivorous alien fish. "Doctor! Ester!"   
  
"Books. You came in the books. Microspores in a million, million books!" I exclaimed, my face breaking into a grin, unable to help myself.   
  
"We should go." Other Dave said again. "Doctor! Ester!"   
  
"Oh, look at that."The Doctor said in awe, looking at me with a smile as well. "The forests of the Vashta Nerada, pulped and printed and bound. A million, million books, hatching shadows."   
  
"We should go. Doctor! Ester!" The same thing again. I felt a pit form in my stomach as me and the Doctor turned around to look at Other Dave.   
  
Or rather, what was left of him.   
  
"Oh, Dave! Oh Dave, I'm so sorry." The Doctor said as we looked at the skeleton-in-a-suit that was Other Dave.   
  
"Hey, who turned out the lights?"   
  
"We should go. Doctor! Ester!"   
  
"Thing about me, I'm stupid. I talk too much. I really don't know why Ester sticks around. Always babbling on, me. But for whatever reason she likes it. This gob doesn't stop for anything. Want to know one of the two reasons I'm still alive? Well, one of them is Ester, that's a given. But the other one?" He said, grabbing a tight hold of my hand. "Always stay near the door. Sorry Love." He soniced the trap door we had been standing on and we started plummeting down towards the ground that a couple thousand stories down.   
  
"DOCTOR!" I yelled as we fell, clutching to his side as I felt my hearts beat their own easy out of my chest.   
  
If there was one thing I was afraid of, it was heights.   
  
I started to feel more and more lightheaded as we got closer and closer to the ground. The Doctor wrapped his arm tighter and tighter around me as I clutched his suit jacket and shirt, possible leaving holes from where my fingernails had dug into it. I dug my face into his shoulder, trying my best to calm myself down before I passed out by breathing in the sent of him that just felt so much like home to me.   
  
Despite my attempts to calm myself down, my vision started going dark and fuzzy around the edges, and the world faded around me.   
  
  
***   
  
"Ester. Ester, wake up. Ester please just open your eyes. Ester please." Said a familiar voice that sounded so incredibly far away. "Ester." The voice started getting clearer, and more familiar. "Ester, love, please." Doctor. It was him, but why was he calling me. "Please just open your eyes." I tried; opening them a little, groaning a little when I saw that bright light. I opened my eyes a little more and I was able to make our his face, my Doctor. His face was specked with concern and worry, but they slowly dissolved away when he processed that I was awake. "You're okay." He said in a slightly disbelieving tone, placing a long kiss on my forehead as his arms wrapped around me tighter. Wait, I was in his arms.   
  
"Yeah." I said, my voice sounding more worn than I would have liked. "Are you okay?" I asked him, causing him to laugh.   
  
"Am I alright?" He asked with a small laugh. "I'm not the one who passed out mid-air."   
  
"Doctor." I pressed.   
  
"Yes, Ester, I'm perfectly fine." He said before I pressed a kiss to his lips.   
  
***   
  
"You know, it's funny, I keep wishing Ester and the Doctor were here." I heard River's voice say from down the hall. We had made it back into the Library, and we were headed back to River and Anita.   
  
"They are here, Aren't they? They are coming back, right?" I heard Anita's smaller voice say.   
  
"You know when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it's from years before you knew them." River started. "And it's like they're not quite finished. They're not done yet. Well, yes, the Doctor and Ester are here. They came when I called, just like they always do. But not my Doctor. Not my Ester. Now my Doctor and my Ester, I've seen whole armies turn and run away. And they'd just swagger off back into their TARDIS and open the doors with a snap of the fingers. The Doctor and Ester in the TARDIS. Next stop, everywhere." River said as we came into the room.   
  
"Spoilers." We said together.   
  
"Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that." The Doctor said as I tried racking my mind for a time when I might have seen an older version of the Doctor open the TARDIS with a snap of his fingers. I couldn't pinpoint a specific time.   
  
"It does for the Doctor and Ester."   
  
"Well I'm Ester and he is most certainly the Doctor." I said, starting to feel myself getting a little worked up again. I didn't know how to feel about this River Song; part of me didn't want to trust anything that came out of her mouth, and the other part of me noticed the strong connection I felt towards her, like an invisible force that was pulling us together. She knew my name. No one except me knew my name. Both of my parents were dead and the Doctor didn't know it either, so what made her so special that she knew it?   
  
"Yeah. Some day." River said.   
  
"How are you doing?" The Doctor asked River and Anita as  I fiddled with my sonic, needing to do something with my hands to keep me some sort of sane.   
  
"Where's Other Dave?" River asked.   
  
"Not coming." I told her, not meeting her eyes. "Sorry."   
  
"Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?" Anita asked.   
  
"I don't know. Maybe tinting your visor's making a difference." The Doctor said, walking towards her. I noticed she had two shadows and grabbed his arm. I pointed to them, communicating with him silently. He stayed by my side.   
  
"It's making a difference all right. No one's ever going to see my face again." Anita said, still blissfully oblivious to the facts at hand at the moment.   
  
"Can I get you anything?" I asked her.   
  
"An old age would be nice. Anything you can do?" She asked.   
  
"I'm all over it." I said with a small smile she couldn't see.   
  
"Doctor, Ester. When we first met you, you didn't trust Professor Song. And then she whispered a word in your ears, and you did." I wasn't sure I would go that far. "My life so far. I could do with a word like that. What did she say? Give a dead girl a break. Your secrets are safe with me."   
  
"Safe." I said, something clicking in my mind, the Doctor looked at me, him getting it as well.   
  
"What?"   
  
"Safe." I repeated. "You don't say saved. Nobody says saved. You say safe. The data fragment! What did it say?" I asked.   
  
"Four thousand and twenty two people saved. No survivors." Lux said.   
  
"Ester?" River asked.   
  
"Nobody says saved. Nutters say saved. You say safe. You see, it didn't mean safe. It meant, it literally meant, saved!" I exclaimed, me and the Doctor rushing to the nearest computer.   
  
"See, there it is, right there." I said, pointing to the screen once I had pulled up the Library Archives. "A hundred years ago, massive power surge. All the teleports going at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm. The computer tries to teleport everyone out." I explained, the Doctor kissed my temple.   
  
"It tried to teleport four thousand twenty two people?" River asked in awe.   
  
"It succeeded." The Doctor said. "Pulled them all out, but then what? Nowhere to send them. Nowhere safe in the whole library. Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. Four thousand and twenty two people all beamed up and nowhere to go."   
  
"They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent, like emails. So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?" I asked them.   
  
"It saved them." River said, getting the point.   
  


"The library. A whole world of books, and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history." I said, a grin on my face as I started to feel hopeful for the first time in a few hours. "The index to everything ever written, backup copies of every single book. The computer saved four thousand and twenty two people the only way a computer can. It saved them to the hard drive."   
  
All of a sudden an alarm started going off.   
  
"What is it? What's wrong?" Lux said as we looked back to the computer. 

  
"Autodestruct enabled in twenty minutes." The computer said.   
  
"What's maximum erasure?" River asked, voicing my thoughts. 

  
"In twenty minutes, this planet's going to crack like an egg." The Doctor said, gripping my hand. 

  
"No. No, it's alright. The Doctor Moon will stop it. It's programmed to protect Cal." Lux said, sweat starting to build up on his face. 

  
The Doctor started to work on the computer system, trying to haunt the self destruction, but the screen went blank. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" He said, slamming his hands on the table. I placed my hand on his back, trying to help calm him down. 

  
"All library systems are permanently offline. Sorry for any inconvenience. Shortly-" Came from the computer.    
  


"We need to stop this. We've got to save Cal." Lux said, looking frantic.    
  


"What is it?" I asked him. "What is Cal?"    
  


"We need to get to the main computer. I'll show you." Lux said.    
  


"It's at the core of the planet." The Doctor told him.    
  


"Well, then." River said. "Let's go." She pointed her screwdriver at the library logo in the middle of the compass rose on the floor. It opened to reveal a piece of equipment.   
  


"Gravity platform." River and I said at the same time. I looked at her, surprised by her quick thinking.    
  
"Smart." I complemented.    
  
"That I am." Was her response.    
  


"I bet I like you." The Doctor said, having a similar expression as I did.   
  


"Oh, you do. Both of you for that matter."   
  
The Doctor and I shared a look before the five of us stepped onto the gravity platform, bringing us down to the data core of the Library.     
  
***   
  


"Autodestruct in fifteen minutes." The computer told us, doing nothing to ease any nerves. In the middle of the room there was a large globe with energy swirling throughout it.    
  


"The data core. Over four thousand living minds trapped inside it." The Doctor said in awe, taking a step towards it.    
  


"Yeah, well, they won't be living much longer." River stated, catching our attention. "We're running out of time."    
  
The Doctor, River and I started looking around the room for some sort of solution. While we were looking, the Doctor had managed to find an access terminal.   
  
“Help me. Please, help me.” The voice of a young girl came out of the access terminal, causing a wave of dread to wash over me.

 

“What's that?” Anita asked, moving her head towards the sound.    
  


“Was that a child?” I asked the Doctor. He was focused on the computer, I started working along side him.

  
“The computer's in sleep mode. I can't wake it up. I'm trying.” He said, trying to hide his desperate tone. He might have managed to pass it off as something else to the others in the room, but I could see right through him and see the man who had seen the deaths of too many children. The deaths of too many innocent children.

  
“Ester, Doctor, these readings-” River said, working alongside us as the Doctor and I furiously worked to get the computer working.

  
“I know. You'd think it was dreaming.” The Doctor said.   
  


“It is dreaming, of a normal life, and a lovely Dad, and of every book ever written.” Lux said from across the room, all eyes turned to him.

 

“Computers don't dream.” Anita said in disbelief.

  
“Help me. Please help me.” The voice of the young girl pleaded.

  
“No, but little girls do.” Lux said. The Doctor found my hand and held it tight.

 

Lux pulled a breaker from the wall behind him, causing a secret door to open into another room. We followed Lux through the doorway to find a node with its back turned to us.   
  
“Please help me.” It was the child’s voice. “Please help me.” The node turned around. It had the face of a little girl. I felt sick to my stomach. 

 

“Oh, my God.” River whispered as I stared at the node.

  
“It's the little girl. The girl we saw in the computer.” Anita said, stunned.

  
“She's not in the computer. In a way, she is the computer. The main command node.” Lux explained. “This is Cal.”

 

“Cal is a child?” The Doctor yelled, furious at Lux. “A child hooked up to a mainframe? Why didn't you tell us this? We needed to know this!”

  
“Because she's family!” Lux roared. The room went silent and he took a breath before beginning. “Cal. Charlotte Abigail Lux. My grandfather's youngest daughter. She was dying, so he built her a library and put her living mind inside, with a moon to watch over her, and all of human history to pass the time. Any era to live in, any book to read. She loved books more than anything, and he gave her them all. He asked only that she be left in peace. A secret, not a freak show.”

  
“So you weren't protecting a patent, you were protecting her.” I said softly, thinking back to all of those children on Gallifrey. All of the children who were gone. All of the children I couldn’t save.   
  


“This is only half a life, of course.” Lux explained, walking towards Charlotte. “But it's forever.”

 

“And then the shadows came.” The Doctor said grimly. I searched for his hand, taking it in my own and rubbing little circles on his thumb with my own.

  
“The shadows.” Charlotte said. “I have to. I have to save. Have to save.” The words came out as a struggle.

  
“And she saved them. She saved everyone in the library. Folded them into her dreams and kept them safe.” I said, looking into the eyes of the afraid little girl.

  
“Then why didn't she tell us?” Anita asked.

  
“Because she's forgotten.” The Doctor explained. “She's got over four thousand living minds chatting away inside her head. It must be like being, well, me and Ester.”

“So what do we do?” River asked. The Doctor and I shared a look, we had been responsible for the deaths of too many innocents. We couldn’t add to the list.   
  


“Autodestruct in ten minutes.’ The computer announced, snapping me and the Doctor out of our moods.   
  
“Easy!” The Doctor exclaimed as me and him went to the computer in the room. 

 

“We beam all the people out of the data core. The computer will reset and stop the countdown.” I explained while working.

 

“Difficult.” The Doctor chimed in. 

 

“Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer.” I added.

 

“Easy!” He chimed again. 

“We'll hook ourselves up to the computer. She can borrow our memory space.” I said, knowing fully well what the consequences would be. The Doctor and I started gathering cords.   
  


“Difficult.” River said. “It'll kill you both stone dead.”

  
“Yeah, it's easy to criticise.” The Doctor said lightly, still going along with our plan.    
  


“It'll burn out all four of your hearts and don't think either one of you will regenerate.” River said, stating what we both already knew.

  
“We'll try our hardest not to die. Honestly, it's our main thing, right love?” The Doctor said, giving me a quick wink.

  
“Doctor!” River exclaimed.   
  


“We’re right, this works. Shut up.” The Doctor told River, going from light hearted to serious in a blink of an eye. “Now listen. You and Luxy boy, back up to the main library. Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download, and before you say anything else, Professor, can I just mention in passing as you're here, shut up.”   
  


“Oh! I hate you both sometimes.” She yelled storming towards the exit.   
  


“We know!” The Doctor and I yelled back, still fumbling with cords.

  
“Mister Lux, with me. Anita, if they die, I'll kill them!” And with that she was gone.   
  


“What about the Vashta Nerada?” Anita asked.

  
“These are their forests.” I explained. “We’re going to seal Charlotte inside her little world, take everybody else away. The shadows can swarm to their hearts' content.”

  
“So you think they're just going to let us go?”

 

“Best offer they're going to get.” The Doctor said.

  
“You're going to make 'em an offer?” Something wasn’t right.

  
“They'd better take it, because right now, I'm finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all.” He said, going towards Anita. “You know what? I really liked Anita. She was brave, even when she was crying. And she never gave in. And you ate her.” He cleared her visor with his sonic to show her skull. “But I'm going to let that pass, just as long as you let them pass.”   
  


“How long have you known?” Came from Anita’s suit.

 

“We counted the shadows.” I said. “You only have one now. She's nearly gone. Be kind.”    
  


“These are our forests. We are not kind.”

  
“We giving you back your forests, but you are giving us them. You are letting them go.” The Doctor warned.

  
“These are our forests. They are our meat.” The shadows stretched out towards the Doctor and I.   
  


“No, I really don’t think you want to do that.” I said sternly. “You see, you just killed someone I really liked, and you don’t want to get more on my bad side then you already are. You’re in a library. My turf. Look me up, the Teacher and he’s the Doctor, and see what you find. See if that will change your mind.” After a moment the shadows slowly went away from us.

 

“You have one day.” And the spacesuit collapsed.   
  


“Oh, Anita.” River said from behind us, we turned to face her.

  
“I'm sorry. She's been dead a while now.” The Doctor said before adding, “I told you to go!”

  
”Lux can manage without me, but you two can't.”

 

Before I knew what was happening, River’s fist hit me straight in the face, sending me to the ground as everything went fuzzy.

 

“Oh no you don’t River!” I heard the Doctor’s voice from lightyears away before I heard a second ‘thud’ and passed out.

  
***

 

“Oh, no, no, no, no.” I heard, starting to come to again. “Come on, what are you doing? That's my job.” I opened my eyes to see River wiring herself to the computer.

 

“River!” I exclaimed.

  
“Oh, and I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose? So overprotective.” River said, I went to get up, but I was held back. I was handcuffed to the Doctor, and he was handcuffed to a support beam. 

 

“Why are we handcuffed? Why do you even have handcuffs?” I questioned. 

  
“Spoilers.” She said in a mocking tone.

  
“This is not a joke. Stop this now.” I said. 

 

“This is going to kill you! We'd have a chance, you don't have any.” The Doctor added. 

  
“You wouldn't have a chance, and neither do I. I'm timing it for the end of the countdown. There'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download.” River said.

  
“River, please. No.” I said, feeling something inside me break for her.

  
“Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die.” River said, looking as if she was going to cry. “All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here. The last time I saw you, the real yous, the future yous, I mean, you both turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit and a new dress. Ester, you even wore heels! You two took me to Darillium to see the Singing Towers. What a night that was. The Towers sang, and you cried. You both did.”

  
“Autodestuct in one minute.”

  
“You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time. My time. Time to come to the library. You even gave me your screwdriver, Doctor. That should have been a clue.” 

In a pile on the ground were our three screwdrivers, and both mine and River’s journals. The Doctor was struggling, desperate to get to his screwdriver to undo the handcuffs.    
  


“There's nothing you can do.” River exclaimed.

  
“You can let us do this.”

  
“If you die here, it'll mean I've never met you!” River said, tears now running down her face. “If this is the first time you both have seen me, I’ll never get back here!”    
  


“Time can be rewritten!” I yelled, crying.

  
“Not those times. Not one line. Don't you dare.” River said, taking two stripped wires in her hands. “It's okay. It's okay. It's not over for you two. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. The three of us, time and space. You watch us run.” She said with a smile.

 

“River, you know my name.” The Doctor said.

 

“You know my name.” I said.   
  


“Autodestruct in ten-”

  
“You whispered my name in my ear!”

‘Nine, eight, seven-”

“There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There’s only one person. There's only one time I could-” He was cut off.   
  


“Hush, now.” River said.   
  


“Four, three-”

  
“Spoilers.” She said with a grin that could only be described as River Song.

“Two, one-” She joined the wires together, there was a blinding light, and River song was gone. \

 

The Doctor and I sat in silence. The last tear rolled down my face.   
  


***

 

An hour or so passed. Donna found us sitting in silence and got us out of our handcuffs. She started making small talk, trying to distract us from our own minds. She told us all about the life she lived in the library, from the hospital to the man she married. We suggested that she tried looking for him, she did just that once we found all of the rest of the people who were stored in the library. 

 

After Donna had run out, the Doctor and I sat at a bench, watching all of the people go by. “I don’t know who she is.” I said, breaking the silence that had covered both of us.

 

“I don’t either.” He said.

 

“Oh. So River, she wasn’t me then?” I asked, voicing a thought I had during the time between River’s death and Donna finding us. “And please Doctor, tell me the truth.Screw the spoilers.”

 

“She wasn’t you, Ester.” He said, looking at me with those beautiful eyes of his. He took my hand in his. “I would have known in an instant if she was you, but she wasn’t.” 

 

“How did she know our names then?” I asked him.

 

“I wish I knew, Ester. I wish I knew.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me close to his side. I let my head rest on his shoulder. I could hear his hearts beating.

 

“I love you.” I whispered, not being able to bring my voice much higher.

 

“And I love you. More than you will ever know.”

 

***   
  
“Any luck?” I asked when Donna came back to us. 

 

She let out a sigh. “There wasn't even anyone called Lee in the library that day. I suppose he could have had a different name out here, but, let's be honest, he wasn't real, was he?”

  
“Maybe not.” The Doctor said, staring off into the distance.

  
“I made up the perfect man. Gorgeous, adores me, and hardly able to speak a word. What's that say about me?”

  
“Everything.” He said, earning himself a nice slap on the chest from me. “Sorry, did I say everything? I meant to say nothing. I was aiming for nothing. I accidentally said everything.” He rambled.    
  


“What about you two?” Donna asked.

 

“What about us?” I asked.

  
“Are you alright?” 

  
“We’re always alright.” The Doctor and I said together.

 

“Is alright special Time Lord code for really not alright at all?” She asked, seeing right through us.

  
“Why?” I asked.   
  


“Because I'm alright, too.” She said.

  
“Come on.” The Doctor said, standing up and offering us both a hand up. We walked out of the teleport room towards the TARDIS. We passed a balcony overlooking a sea of books. The Doctor put River’s journal on the railing.    
  
“Your friend, Professor Song. She knew you in the future, but she didn't know me. What happens to me? Because when she heard my name, the way she looked at me…” Donna said. 

  
“Donna, this is her diary. My future. Ester’s future. I could look you up. What do you think? Shall we peek at the end?” The Doctor said, toying with the idea.

 

“No Doctor.” I said, despite how much I wanted to find out about River. “You know you would never look through mine, do the same for River.”

  
“Spoilers, right?” Donna added.   
  


“Right.” He said, placing River’s sonic on top of her journal. “Come on. The next chapter's this way.” We continued walking towards the TARDIS. Before the Doctor and I had an idea, that is.   
We ran back to the journal and the sonic. “Why? Why would I give her my screwdriver? Why would I do that? Thing is, future me had years to think about it, all those years to think of a way to save her, and what he did was give her a screwdriver. Why would I do that?”He thought aloud.

 I saw two green lights, like the ones on the space suits. “Doctor, the neural relay!”   
“Oh! Oh! Oh, look at that. I'm very good!” He exclaimed. “No, you probably thought this through, Ester, only you’re that brilliant!”

“You know that isn’t true.” I said, knowing fully well how brilliant the man in front of me was. 

“Oh Ester! I could kiss you!” He said, before doing just that.

  
“What have you done?” Donna asked, not following.

  
“Saved her!” The Doctor and I yelled, running towards the main computer. The light went from two green lights down to one.   
  
“Stay with me! You can do it, stay with me! Come on, you and me, one last run!”   
  
“Sorry, River, shortcut!” I said as we jumped into the gravity well that we used earlier. We made it to the data core, where the Doctor plugged in the sonic to the core, successfully transferring her neural energy.

 I laughed as I threw my arms around the Doctor. He picked me up and spun me around before kissing me hard on the lips.   
  


Eventually we made it back to the TARDIS. The Doctor snapped his fingers, and the door opened to show Donna sitting inside. We walked inside, and the Doctor snapped his fingers again to close the door.   
  


River was saved.


End file.
